In Latin America little should be known about the Alex Jones affair. But just as the Universal Declaration of Human Rights was the pillar on which the international scaffolding for the protection of human rights was built, the Alex Jones case will be remembered in the future as the watershed that put an end to the use of communications to destroy lives. From now on the information platforms; content distribution services and social networks know that they are not above the law and that they must be held accountable when they cause harm to society. Because on October 14, 2022, two juries from districts as distant as Texas and Connecticut ruled that Mr. Jones must repair the damage caused to society stipulated in more than one billion dollars.
Alex Jones is a well-received and well-followed radio personality among radical nationalist groups; he white supremacy and fights against the ability of the state to regulate activities such as the carrying of weapons. His radio broadcasts are followed by the lower-income population group of Anglo-Saxon background. And since the 1990s he has waged a kind of crusade against the US state based on three events that, in his opinion, were traps set up by the power establishment to control the population. These events are the moon landing; the bombing of state buildings in Oklahoma City in 1995 and the attack on the twin towers in New York in 2001. Through his radio programs and relying on conspiracy theory and false news production platforms such as Newswar and Prisonplanet, he managed to capture a significant mass of followers who were protagonists of the assault on the United States Congress on January 6, 2021. Alex Jones was one of the speakers in Lafayette Square before the event. Mr. Jones inexplicably walked away from the event unharmed without charges being brought against him in connection with the attack.
But Mr. Jones had several years defaming both the educational authorities, such as those of observance of the law of the state of Connecticut and the relatives of 20 kindergarten children murdered at close range by a young man who, after killing his mother, undertook it against the Sandy Hook Elementary school in the state of Connecticut. To the horror of the death of their little children whose ages ranged between 5 and 7 years old, these parents had to endure for ten years the attacks of Jones who affirmed that they had all been paid to place their children as targets of the attack and thus imposing arms control on the country. And the parents sued and the courts agreed with them.
From now on, information platforms know that there is case law on the use of information for harassment purposes; of falsifying the truth or propagating lies and substance. Therefore, any content that has the impact of falsifying the truth and affecting a group of the population may be designated in court as a target for the payment of reparations. This impacts the creators and the disseminators of such content alike. It was time!!
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