Does Alex Jones even have a billion dollars?

No, but I wonder how much money the plaintiffs can reasonably expect to see.

This post was edited by Livvie at October 22, 2022 3:15 PM MDT

They will get whatever his insurance liability will cover. 

Other than that he will likely just file bankruptcy on the judgment(s)

No I don't think he has a billion dollars but the results of this lawsuit will be priceless. Shock jocks and other news outlets will have to stop spreading baseless propaganda or face getting sued. Cheers!

Probably not, but the judgement should extend to sponsors and outlet too. Jerks like Jones are harmless unless they are enabled by media outlets like InfoWars.

It seems Alex Jones has a copy-cat in Britain, named (or calling himself) Richard D. Harris.


I don't know if this Briton uses his middle initial to seem American, as it is not a common British trait; but that apart he is coming down hard on the survivors and bereaved of the 2017 bomb attack on the audience leaving after an Ariana Grande concert at the Manchester Arena.

Like Jones with the Sandy Hook murders, Harris has convinced himself the concert attack was a hoax, that the dead and injured were all actors, any claim that it was real is a lie, etc. He even stooped to placing a hidden camera to spy on one young woman, 14 at the time of the bomb that left her with serious head injuries, and put her father in a wheel-chair.

Harris does not have a TV or radio show; but like Jones, he has collected around him a rag-tag crowd of adoring cowards on [anti?]social-media, or attending his talks where he sells his merchandise. That apparently centres on his book in which he claims the entire incident was false and anyone - even the direct victims - who says otherwise, is a liar.

Cowards who think it clever to stalk, harass, bully the victims; on-line or even personally (as with the camera). 

How he thinks the "actor" claim can even be sustainable I don't know, because sooner or later people would start recognising them from TV shows, films or theatre plays; and recall their being in that foyer, from News reports. Also, it would be extremely hard for some of them not to let slip their parts in it.  



This man is being investigated by a daily serial on BBC Radio Four, and Part 4 of 10 was broadcast yesterday, November 3rd - which by a harsh co-incidence was the day the Inquiry Report into the atrocity was published, with its damning criticism of the un-coordinated, confused and delayed response by all three emergency services. 

The aim of the series, though,  is not just to try to investigate that one man's motives, but the behaviour as a whole

Marianna Spring, the investigating journalist and presenter, succeeded in interviewing Harris, though he was clearly rattled because one of his crew was filming her and her producer while a third BBC staffer filmed the entire proceedings. She tried to elicit some explanation from Harris, but he became evasive and said only "It's all in the book".

I think Marianna said she had read it and found no explanation for his beliefs or actions.

I'd hardly expect someone like Jones or Harris to be apologetic, remorseful or care a jot about the victims. I think all they care about is partly making money from their lies; but perhaps more, the ego-massage of lots and lots of on-line followers as personally unknown to them as the victims of the original violence in the school or concert-hall foyer.
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Today's episode looked at what drives those followers.

Really you'd need ask an awful lot of them to gain a better idea, but among the factors are a deep distrust of authority and the "mainstream media". Also, during the worst of the lock-down many, especially young, people were bored stiff. stuck at home away from their usual social lives; had no idea what to believe and became lured into the festering "conspiracy" nonsense on the Internet's side-lines.  

It ended with asking what can be done about it. As the father said, you'd not expect much from the social-media companies hosting these people; but the families are looking into suing Harris for libel.

I fear if they succeed, most of the compensation will go to Court costs including keeping solicitors and barristers in clover*; but money does not repair injuries beyond perhaps compensating for lost earnings or paying for further treatment / disability aids. Nor does it resurrect the dead. However, perhaps far more importantly, it would flush the liars out, humiliating them; and adding to the growing pressure on Twitter, Telegram, etc to start showing rather more moral courage.

With five episodes to go hopefully we may gain a better insight into what makes Alex Jones, Richard Harris and their like, tick.
''''

[ Reference:

Marianna Spring, Disaster Trolls; BBC Radio Four FM, Mon-Fri 9.45 - 10.00 am.

So far we have had 5 of the 10 episodes, but it is all available on the BBC Sounds web-site. ]

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*... in clover... They might be lucky: it is rare but sometimes a barrister will volunteer to act pro bono in a particularly distressing case..