Alex Jones’ US$49.3mil verdict and the future of misinformation

Lawyers for the plaintiffs, the parents of one of 20 first graders killed at the Connecticut school in 2012, said they hoped a big-money verdict against Jones would serve as a deterrent to him and others who peddle misinformation for profit. — AFP

Alex Jones is facing a hefty price tag for his lies about the Sandy Hook Elementary School massacre – US$49.3mil (RM219.68mil) in damages, and counting, for claiming the nation’s deadliest school shooting was a hoax – a punishing salvo in a fledgling war on harmful misinformation.

But what does this week’s verdict, the first of three Sandy Hook-related cases against Jones to be decided, mean for the larger misinformation ecosystem, a social media-fuelled world of election denial, Covid-19 scepticism and other dubious claims that the Infowars conspiracy theorist helped build?