what does it feel like, having worked at infowars?mendous amount of shame and guilt. it's very disturbing and it's a trend that is going to continue, unless we continue to call it out. while the truth has finally caught up withjones, his style of extreme conspiracy theories has now spread to the uk. i think that alex jones is the genesis of all conspiracy theories that we see today, you know, the ariana grande concert, to 7/7, to the westminster bridge. all of these conspiracy theorists, go back to alexjones and just the general belief that there is no truth that you can take from the mainstream media. there's some evidence in our survey to support this. a quarter of people surveyed had heard or read theories that school shootings in the us are hoaxes. that appears to make them more susceptible to conspiracies about the uk. if you're in that sort of environment, it does set a tone. you know, stories from america do get a lot of coverage here, and within the kind of global market for conspiracies, america is a really important player.

a new washington post investigation shows conspiracy theorist and infowars website man alex jones shiftingd for defamation by sandy hook families. courts in texas and connecticut aborted families nearly one and a half billion dollars in damages. jones's company free speech systems declared bankruptcy in july. the post has refused financial statements, depositions, and other court records to trace how jones transferred millions to other companies controlled by members of his family. we should note here, nbc news has not independently analyzed the documents. we reached out for comment two attorneys for alex jones and his free speech systems company, we have not yet received any response. joining me now, the writer of this piece, jonathan o'connell, washington post business investigations reporter. along with senior attorney at -- representing sandy hook families, as well as jake westbrook, bankruptcy law professor at university of texas and austin. gentlemen, welcome to all three of you on this holiday weekend, thank you for joining me. first off, jonathan, sometimes when we talk about shift

we know that the infowars of the world are not trustworthy sources of news, but if we graze a little more widely i think that is one step. it's important to know what people outside your media bubble are thinking and questioning in order to more efficiently argue with them. >> the groupthink of the algorithm. >> could i just addressed that? one thing that is important is if you look at the sources of your information, books, old media, new media, visual, television or other visual things. in other words, going across platforms, going to cost a ton of information you give, that helped you get a better grip of how to weigh what you're hearing and come to a kind of rational conclusion about it. i think that is important that it's not just one source that you're going across oracle platforms to look for different kinds of information about given problems, given people, given issues, giving events. i think that's important. >> thank you. >> thank you to the two of you. we appreciate it very much. [applause] both branded and elizabeth. both of them will be signing their books downstairs sh

so first one was in august in austin, where infowars jones's business and his online radio broadcast, his based there, a jury awarded $50 million in compensatory and punitive damages to the two. neil heslin, scarlett lewis, who are the parents of jesse lewis who died at sandy hook and in that case, lewis actually had the opportunity through a kind of accident in timing to address alex jones to his face as. he sat at the defense table and she was on the witness stand and it. 90 minutes of some of the most powerful testimony. i think i've certainly ever seen. and, you know, if any of you caught some of that was just an amazing she addressed the answer to every question directly to him and really stated what the sandy hook families have said from the beginning of these lawsuits that is a battle for truth. this just their effort to reclaim their own story of what happened to, their children, their siblings, their mom, these six educators and 20 children who were killed. but that this is an effort by them to warn all of us about the spread, the rampant spread of disinformation and false na

. >>> still to come tonight, breaking news on the ongoing legal problems surrounding infowars alex jones. a big win for a parent of one of the children murdered. >>> and the lack of answers into the murders of those four students at the university of ididaho. ♪ 'cause it hanangs the♪ ♪ to see someone like you ♪ ♪ but you gotta make your own kind of music ♪ life gets bigger when you break from the herd. ♪ sing your own special song ♪ the volkswagen tiguan. ♪ make your own kind of music ♪ i'd like to thank our sponsor liberty mutual. they customize your car insurance, so you only pay for what you need. contestants ready? go! only pay for what you need. jingle: liberty. liberty. liberty. liberty. hey, it's ryan reynolds, owner of mint mobile. it's the holidays and the big wireless companies are busy spending billions on advertising. at mint we're not into wasting money. so we bought this spiffy stock footage for $500. our footage also came with another hand, so we can let you know if you switch to mint, you'll get three months free on all of our plans. even unlimited. feels like that deserv

a judge in connecticut today ordered infowars host alex jones to pay $473 million in punitive damagesiminghat the sandy hook school shooting was a hoax. that is on top of nearly $1 billion that a jury awarded to the victims families and two and fbi agent. 20 children and six educators died in the 2012 massacre. the state of california is suing 18 chemical manufacturers, including dupont and 3m, alleging they knowingly marketed products containing so-called cancer-causing forever products. the chemical compounds are found in firefighting foams, nonstick frying pans, and many other products. on a lighter note, the national toy hall of fame has three new honorees. today's announcement named light brite, which first appeared in 1966, masters of the universe, action figures that debuted in 1981, and the spinning top. it has been around for several thousand years. still to come on the newshour, a republican congressional candidate who ousted democratic leader discusses his surprise victory. how the issue of abortion appears to have swayed results in this year's election. ukrainian forces ca

and i think there was a moment in the evening, i was watching all of the shows, infowars and more, and there was a moment they realized, wait a second, we don't have a plan for this, red wave all the time, high on their own supply and a moment where they looked up at their actual results and realized the red wave was not there, and it was fascinating watching it happen, because they live in, they are so sectioned off in reality in these spaces, where the idea that things aren't going right, that things aren't going to work out at the end of the day for them, it's just not possible, and then when it becomes reality, they have to really adjust. and i think they did have a backup plan really quickly, where they thought worse comes to worse, it will be 50-49 over arizona, we will contest everything and make it hell for everybody. but that might not actually matter, if democrats win nevada, you know, contesting that state is not going to matter for the senate. so they are on their back foot right now. and i think they are really, look, i'm not saying steve bannon is looking inward, but i'm

twitter is evolving and evolving into a place where the infowar happens. and if advertisers want to be a part of the information war, between rival factions where, for example, kanye west is being replied to elon musk and liked by elon musk saying "shalom," after being temporarily banned from the platform for tweeting that he was about to go def-co 3 on the jews, and he's telling them that they're back in the game here, i am not entirely certain that if i were a brand name advertiser trying to reach families or children or regular people, this is where i would take my stuff. but i'm not sure that's what elon is up to now. i think he's trying to get as many users as possible really upset on his platform. get them to see the car crash. get them to crowd around us. and then see what he can do with that from there on out. and i want to stress people, this is a website, just a website. it's optional. you don't have to go there. there's other place to get news and talk about, in my opinion -- in my world, the nba or something. you don't have to go here. there ar