Man Sues InfoWars For Defamation Over Site Falsely Accusing Him Of Being Parkland Shooter
Far-right conspiracy site InfoWars has had a tough time of it in recent weeks. A Charlottesville counterprotester sued the Alex Jones-led outlet for defamation for suggesting he was part of a Deep State false flag operation. The creator of Pepe the Frog — the symbol that has been co-opted by the alt-right — also filed a suit against InfoWars for selling posters featuring the character. And the site is potentially on the verge of being banned from YouTube over its Parkland conspiracy videos.
Well, the hits keep on coming.
As reported by The Daily Beast, a young Massachusetts man has filed a defamation lawsuit against Jones, his outlet, InfoWars’ parent company and an InfoWars reporter. The man, Marcel Fontaine, alleges that InfoWars “irreparably tainted” his reputation after the site published a story by Kit Daniels falsely claiming that Fontaine was a suspect in the horrific Marjory Stoneman Douglas shooting that left 17 dead.
The February 14th piece showed a picture of Fontaine wearing a novelty shirt that read “Communist Party” and showed well-known communists drinking. Daniels wrote that a “photo of the suspect shows communist garb” while referencing the photo. InfoWars further hyped it by stating the “shooter is a commie.”
Obviously, Fontaine wasn’t the Parkland shooter, as Nikolas Cruz has been charged with 17 counts of premeditated murder and 17 counts of attempted murder in the first degree. Cruz has confessed to being the shooter, per a probable cause affidavit released after his arrest.
Fontaine’s suit, which was filed in Tarrant County, Texas on Monday, notes that a GOP lawmaker shared InfoWars story on social media and claims as many as hundreds of millions of people were exposed to it. The suit states Fontaine has been subjected to threats from InfoWars readers and he currently suffers from “mental stress and anguish.” He is seeking more than a million dollars.
As noted in the Beast piece, however, it is possible that the lawsuit could be tossed out because it provides so much background information on InfoWars and its history of publishing conspiratorial stories. Because it was filed in Texas, it could run afoul of the state’s laws against frivolous lawsuits, InfoWars could try to frame the suit as a way to shut down its content and speech.
[image via screengrab]
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