Following his trial for defamation of the families of the children and school staff killed in the Sandy Hook massacre, conspiracy theorist Alex Jones is using Valve Corp.’s Steam, the world’s largest digital distribution platform for PC games, to sell an Infowars-themed video game. Jones claims to have earned hundreds of thousands in revenue from the video game, yet he has refused to pay the Sandy Hook families. Alex Jones: NWO Wars also mirrors and cartoonishly repackages the conspiracy theorist’s regularly violent, hateful rhetoric despite the platform’s policies against hate speech.
I mean, why aren’t his assets seized and bank accounts frozen at this point?
Or is it only the poor that have to pay their fines?
The court is trying. He’s just playing a lot of games. Lots of the money is held by his parents or hidden in different shell companies. The court established that he and InfoWars are basically the same thing as far as the money is concerned, so he’s been trying to start new shows and businesses to further complicate things.
Court orders don’t automatically happen or always get enforced. Going through a divorce right now - lawyer told me that even if I do get an order that some of the shared debts are paid, he can just not. I’d have to go back to court and still get dinged on my credit.
If you’re poor though they just put you in jail while they figure that stuff out. If they figure it out.
These are civil cases.
That’s honestly just worse if true. How is this not criminal? He doesn’t go to jail unless the state is what he’s ripped off? You know, the one by the people for the people?
The 1st Amendment presents a very high bar for criminal prosecution of speech.
A bar over which he took off into fucking orbit! It’s 100% because of rich, famous, right wing white guy privilege that he isn’t in prison right now.
On the contrary, the more unpopular the speech, the higher the bar.
They will not. This is a civil case its not like he owes the IRS. Man you said that so confidently and its got like 20 upvotes while being so clearly and easily serachable to be proved completely false. Lol this thread is full of morons
It may not apply to this case, but it certainly does apply in a wide way.
There is also this.
these days, if you say you are English they will lock you up in jail.
Of all the things that never happened, this didn’t happen the most.
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What, where?
In England
Because America is entirely broken.
Completely empty comment just shitting on America, overwhelmingly upvoted. Lol what a fucking joke this place can be.
You’re free to leave. Unlike what America is becoming… you’ve got that freedom here.
Bye.
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You’re right, I can leave. Although I have that freedom in America too, so I’m not sure why you think that statement made any sense.
And just like with America I can stay and try to make it better. But I just regularly get reminded how low the common denominator is here. Keep defending it. Really proving what an intellectual independent thinker you are.
Yawn.
Whatever you say; Captain America. Should you be ironing your cape in preparation for the next big battle with…. everyone that thinks differently than you?
I call out an empty comment and you interpret that as attacking anyone who thinks differently than me? Brilliant. Lol
Maybe you should try to stop being so angry moving forward. I would like that for you.
Explaining the many reasons why America is broken could take quite a while. Some sentiments are best summed up in a few words.
The post isn’t about America, they could have easily explained why this particular system is broken. But, hey, empty shitting on America is simple and sure to get some upvotes. Definitely what we should all be aiming for.
You’ve somehow missed that Alex Jones is a US citizen, and part of the reason he can earn money from this game is because the US is so broken.
None of that is hard to understand.
Lol I love how I missed something that wasn’t even said. Why not just admit you really don’t know what’s wrong? Or that, for all you know this could be progressing normally and reasonably?
It’s one of the shittier things about Lemmy.
He’s jumping through all the hoops rich folks use to hide their money, which means the courts have to jump through the hoops to get at it, and the court system is slow by comparison.
Sad when you realized who wrote the rules. Fairness is a dream.
(in the UK) - Once, my parents employed a builder who screwed them over and so they took the builder to court. They won the court case and the builder said, “sure, I’ll go to the car to get my cheque book”. Then he was never seen again. So poor people can also get away with not paying fines too!
(If they went through a bunch more hassle, they could have had him tracked down but by that point, with a young child and a messed-up house, it wasn’t worth the effort, time and stress any more)
Valve allows this?
Valve allows a lot of games I’d question like the Kyle riddenhouse game or whatever that loser is that went across state borders to shoot people is.
i just don’t see how hard it could be to assassinate alex jones. pretty sure 3 or 4 intelligent people could coordinate the whole thing.
It wouldn’t be worth it. Better to humiliate him and release the contents of his poorly hidden porn folders.
It’s more complicated than that. Probably best he dies of normal causes so no insane conspiracy’s pop up. Even then that’s too good for him.
oh no. let his idiot followers think it was a conspiracy. the more riled up they get, the more likely they’ll do something stupid that ends with them in prison or dead. no, let’s stir the pot.
I don’t think my sanity can tolerate more insane shit. Living in the US sucks.
i think the next time they grab up torches and pitchforks, the military will intervene. that’s probably our best hope since most of the good citizens of the left are cowards. the sooner we get it over with, the sooner this country can go forward.
Interesting assumption that the military would not be divided.
the more likely they’ll do something stupid that ends with them in prison or dead
That would quite possibly also entail them killing random innocent people or indoctrinating more. No thanks.
That’s not how things work, though. Sure, some of them would wind up in prison. So? A negligible impact.
Do you think January 6 was organic? If so, you haven’t been following the investigations. It was an attempted coup, and the more people the extremist right can get riled up and ready to commit violence where directed, the more likely the next attempt is to succeed.
That’s how you create a martyr, galvanize a movement, and create mass condemnation against whatever cause you stand for.
3 or 4? 1 person is with a $300 Walmart hunting rifle could pull it t off.
People don’t realize how much one dedicated person and a decent rifle can do, especially when no one is expecting it and the assassin doesn’t care about their future or anything but their objective
Hell do it dc sniper style, park a car and modify the trunk.
No one would see anything but an empty car parked down the block from his house or office.
To the best of my knowledge Valve allows basically everything that’s not outright illegal. They aren’t nearly as much of a “good” corporation as they’re often framed as. They’ll happily provide a platform for and take their 30% from anyone, including racists, misogynists, homophobes, etc.
Or maybe they don’t see it’s their place to gatekeep the store based on their own morals. If you start - where do you draw the line? Some examples like such games may be obvious, but there will be a lot more that are less so.
If people disagree with the message - nobody forces them to buy it after all and you can block any game from even showing up for you in the store, in my opinion it’s plenty enough from the valve’s part. I’d rather be the judge myself as to what I want and what I don’t want to see and play, rather than any corporation.
They used to disallow adult games, they don’t allow NFT or crypto.
They have drawn plenty of lines, and moved them when it benefits them. They are just like any other corporation, they just hide it really well and the fans forgive or hide the rest for them.
NFT and crypto would shoehorn in on their gun skin casino they market to children
The problem with that is that providing a platform and a revenue stream is providing support. Whatever the intent is, that is the result. The issue isn’t what I see on the Steam store, it’s providing a platform at all.
And yes, obviously there’s the question of where to draw the line. But not drawing one at all means providing support for the Alex Joneses of the world. There’s no way around that. And I don’t think that that’s a worthwhile trade.
Valve allows basically everything that’s not outright illegal
While true, and I agree it’s the right thing to do, some things like this and the Rittenhouse game are in a weird murky gray area where one could argue that it’s inciting violence etc. And if that someone is a lawyer, they could convince a judge/jury that it is illegal.
I agree that they should allow anything that isn’t illegal, but people say this like it’s black and white, and legality very much is not black and white.
This is too bad, but yes. They are like any other large corporation, I suppose – motivated primarily by greed.
Unless it pisses off the Chinese government, like the game Devotion that was released from a Taiwanese developer. But I don’t think Steam has a high ground so much as it has good PR while not being extremely greedy. In contrast, GOG also removed it, which sort of discredited any high ground they had.
Valve is a soulless corporation that only cares about money. Why wouldn’t they?
Yeah true
Why not? It’s not like the kids are going to boycott them. Boycotts are only for easy to refuse things. Or things that sound good in a instagram post.
Not for actual thinks they like and can’t live without.
Edit: Nvm I understand now!
Valve allowing that dingus to sell a game while refusing to pay his victims families?
Sounds like a good reason to boycott to me.
But no one will.
Oh, I understand now! Yes, that would be an excellent reason for a boycott, but it never works because people never seem to be willing to sacrifice even the smallest amount of convenience for the greater good. I’d be in, and a lot of others probably would be too, but how does one even organize something like that? I think that’s another part of the problem. For a boycott to work, it has to be well planned and organized.
I boycott Nestlé, and I have ran into someone in the world who does the same.
So in my little town if there is a chance that the two of us ran into each other at the same Walmart, right as I was explaining to my kid why we couldn’t buy that type of bottled water, I think that there are a bunch of us boycotting nestle while unorganized.
Overtime cents add up to dollars, even if we can’t bring them down, we can still help them not grow as quickly.
Exactly my thoughts. Well said. Though, under normal circumstances, people would be absolutely outraged by this and the shockwave would be spreading across all platforms to boycott immediately-
but mUh gAmEz?!
So…. It won’t happen.
Fun fact the game can be beaten in 45 minutes and steam refund policy allows returns on games played 2 hours or less
That is a fun fact. Here’s an ever funner fact: Don’t give your money to assholes and then take it back. Just like, don’t give it to them in the first place.
True… But if you buy and return it you can give it a negative review?
Now we’re talkin’
I live in the middle of nowhere and rely on amazon sadly just not possible for me
Doesn’t make sense. You give them money. Enjoy (only some do enjoy) the game. Get money back. Net sum is positive if the game was fun for you.
I’m pretty sure steam has like a 3 month lag time to pay out anyway.
This article invests a lot of effort trying to make it look like it’s all Steam’s responsibility.
It IS their store.
Lock him up (for life, 0 chance of getting out), Access his bank accounts, pay out the damn families already, forget about him and let him rot in there.
Lock him up (for life, 0 chance of getting out)
Defamation is a civil matter, so there’s no chance of this. There’s really only one case in the US where someone can be locked up for failing to pay what they owe from a civil court decision, and that’s child support.
:(
Ooooo TALKING = LIFE SENTENCE . Maybe you should talk a therapist and let the anger out peacefully. Don’t involve your emotions. Surely a rational person cannot think that is a reasonable punishment.
Depends on what they’re talking about.
e.g. “Let’s plan a murder” vs. “Let’s plan dinner”
Do you like Alex Jones?
(Most sane supporter of him)
Do you think he did the shooting himself?
He is one of the key figures leading a mob that has made the lives of parents a living hell.
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Anyone know if it would it be worth reporting this as Defamatory on Steam? There are options for Legal Violation, Harmful, Fraud, Defamatory…without having played it it’s hard to throw it in any of those specific categories, because they mostly have to do with the software itself, though Defamation might work since I’d be surprised if the content doesn’t contain defamatory statements (even if they’re wrapped in attempted irony for legal wiggle room).
I flagged it as harmful because it isn’t directly related to the defamation case. But I’m sure either gets your point across, and if Valve gets enough complaints maybe they’ll actually realize they don’t need a man criminally liable for misusing media, to benefit spreading media on their platform.
I flagged it as Child Exploitation for the simple fact one of the screenshots says Epstein Island…
Followed suit. Cheers.
That’s a good idea.
It isnt though wasting a companies resources for false child exploitation accusations ties up those limited resources to investigate actual child endangerment.
Dont forget to report Google too they have the gall to host this on their servers!1!1 man I bet if any realtor tries to list it for sale we can get them too!! We should never see anything about it existing ever again so people forget about it! /S if it isnt painfully obvious.
Shit, better report me too! I shared a picture of Epstein Island from google search!!
I’d report you just for not removing everything after the ? in your dumb link
Please do explain how showing a picture of Epstein Island is child exploitation. I would love to have that make sense. If there was a daycare that hurt children and I had a picture of the outside of the daycare how in the fuck is that Child exploitation? Its a game about conspiracy theories and political events. That dude who ran that island mysteriously died with no cameras on him and some new guards that were asleep. A lot of people know he did not kill himself so that being unprovable makes it a conspiracy theory which is no surprise it would make it to a game about conspiracy theories. Fuck Alex Jones but also fuck a bunch of dumbasses wasting Valves time and reasources reporting shit that isnt happening. God you people are STUPID I dont understand how people can be so out of touch with the reality around them. Also harmful reportings? Go take a look at the top games on steam especially the Hentai ones where the thousand year old characters look like children THATS child exploitation but showing a picture of espstein island is not child exploitation
M O N E T I Z A T I O N
(And yes Japanese anime pedo culture is gross too but that’s just a red herring regarding this)
Also, “wasting valves time” gtfo… They made a billion dollars off skins in loot crates, they have plenty of fucking “time.”
Jesus you and everyone who commented on this comment is dumb fuck I hate the dude too and he should pay his debts but my god dude how is it anymore harmful than like a million other games that exist? Pirate the shit. But reporting it for child exploitation like that one dude said because it showed Epstein Island is moronic as fuck its a game about conspiracy theories and it isnt any more harmful or defaming than a million other games that exist right now on steam. It doesnt show children being exploited. One thing I notice on Lemmy a lot is people who are like “well I dont like this so other people shouldnt get to like it either.” Fucking christ just pirate the damn game so you dont give him money or dont play it if the courts dont get bought off then their should be no problem with them seizing the money he made off the game. But to report it for child exploitation and defamation is mega fucking stupid my god
Jesus you and everyone who commented on this comment is dumb fuck
You said, in your comment to my comment…
Look: you’re putting so many words in my mouth, it’s probably not worth replying, so…
You’re reporting a game youve never even played for made up reasons because you dont like the guy who made it. I read your comment and didnt put any words in your mouth
Read my comment again then, because I didn’t say I had reported it, or even that i would. I still haven’t.
I was specifically asking if it’s even worth reporting, since it would be mostly because he’s a grifter and this seems shady. Again though, I offer no solid reason why, other than wanting him to just go away.
Can’t they just garnish his shit and empty his bank accounts?
They will, but he threw up roadblocks that the court has to move through. He moved his money behind dummy corporations that the court has to investigate first before they can “pierce the corporate veil,” for example.
Surely that could be interpreted as being in contempt of court. Just lock his ass up and throw away the key.
Yeah, that makes sense. Thx
If this was a fair and just county, sure
if
They just hate our freedoms cause they anus
I do find it weird that Steam actually had this as a game pushed to me. Not sure if that was targeted due to other game choices I’ve made, but I saw the ad and laughed and shook my head.
Alex Jones got to his position by gaming the advertisement system for self-promotion. I can’t say I’m shocked to see his video game once again exploiting the Steam store’s algorithm, just like he’d gamed the YouTube and Twitter algorithms before.
You’ll see Ann Coulter do the same thing with book sales. Have someone straw-purchase 10,000 copies of “Smelly: The Liberal Campaign To Fart A Lot And How It Is Destroying America”, and rocket to the top of the Best Seller Lists.
I think Regnery Press does that last bit all the time…I don’t know if people that maintain such lists take that kind of thing into account or not. And yeah, I have no trouble believing that Lil Alex found some demon willing to help him game the Steam system.
I don’t know if people that maintain such lists take that kind of thing into account or not
It takes more work to find out who is purchasing the books, particularly if the publisher includes straw-purchases as part of its marketing strategy and therefore has an incentive to report their number inaccurately.
I have no trouble believing that Lil Alex found some demon willing to help him game the Steam system.
He’s got enough money to simply do it himself (or outsource the process to professionals). Sort of a priming-the-pump method to marketing. Its very possible that the vig Steam gets from your straw purchases is less than the cost of paying them upfront to advertise your game. Also possible he’s doing both, in which case Steam has a strong economic incentive not to discourage this behavior.
At one time the NY Times bestseller list put this dagger (†) icon at the end of the summary when it happened. That way people in the know would get it was because of bulk sales.
But I think NYT changed how they do their best seller list to be a survey of booksellers, and probably just don’t include bulk sales at all anymore. But I don’t know. But if you see a dagger on a bestseller list, it means shenanigans are afoot. (†)
The sad thing is that the people most likely to know about the shenanigans are the ones least likely to fall for Regnery schemes in the first place…those least likely to know are the target audience of Regnery, etc…
Yeah but it’s probably well beyond the scope of making a best seller list to convince the people that have already been fooled by these scammers that these people are scammers.
Don’t under estimate how many conspiracy theorists and conservatives are on Steam. A good portion of my friends list is fractured after 2016 and 2020
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I get pushed conservative bullshit all the time in ads, but almost never on steam. Part of it is that I’ve intentionally limited the spread of my personal information and also given out more false information than real, so Google isn’t sure if I’m an 84 year old woman in Montana or a 23 year old man using a VPN from Wales. They end up just pushing targeted ads for those vague locations.
EDIT: Pro Tip, if a signup asks for an address for any reason other than shipping/billing then you can just enter a random church address and it usually works.
I usually just put 123 Main Street, Schenectady, NY 12345. Most places don’t even check to see if it’s a real address.
I usually go with 123 Rodeo Drive, Beverly Hills, 90210
I think there are some plugins that will autofill things like that? Not sure what the current best one is.
Even the word autofill causes cringe to me, so I’ve definitely never heard of it.
I’ll stick to playing Broforce
If you read the reviews for it, you can 100% beat the game in about 25-35 minutes and return it for a full refund. I was tempted to do that but I didn’t want to enticed anyone else to buy it who may not play such a game on the devs.
What a dirtbag. I just had to explain to someone younger what that “infowars” sticker on someone’s car means.
The TL;DR version is: “avoid that person”.
Despite my usual attitude towards free speech, I will put in the effort to peel an “Infowars” sticker off of a pole if it looks like easy prey.
Fuck Alex Jones and all the conspiracist bullshit he stands for
This was on a car; I won’t mess with someone’s car. But in any case, I don’t think free speech applies to whipping up a mob to harass grieving parents. Some of these people had to move multiple times and the stochastic terrorism still went on. For over a decade. He’s screaming fire in a crowded theater, or worse. He can f right off with that kind of “free speech”.
Back in the 90s, I found Alex to be a rather humorous curiosity in the same realm as high weirdness in other areas like the Discordians or Church of the Subgenius only without the humor; these days I find him and his followers to be a threat to society. I think 9/11 and then, later, the likes of donnie really, really put him into a dark place. That, and the pursuit of filthy lucre.
For sure, Jones’ right to free speech should have been curtailed long ago.
I’m more referring to the sticker poster’s speech. I won’t deny people the right to promote their ideology, but when that ideology is having fallen for a con man then it’s not legitimate in any way. Same goes for Scientology or other exploitative crap.
Fuck Alex Jones
Agreed. After his Bohemian Grove success he was only in it for the money.
and all the conspiracist bullshit he stands for
Hang on. Are you saying the public should unquestionably believe everything the government and corporations tell us?
No, just that you should get your information from verifiable sources and not from people who profit from making up “truth”.
There are plenty of real conspiracies out there and they’re mostly boring - schemes to swindle the last dollars out of the public pocket.
You rarely hear about these from people who deal in “conspiracy theories” though.
you should get your information from verifiable sources and not from people who profit from making up “truth”.
Totally agree. This definition includes CEO, marketing departments, news outlets and politicians working for lobbyists and corporate sponsors.
If they know where money is coming from, aren’t there legal mechanisms to take it directly from Valve?
My concern here is that these are not real sales and steam is allowing Jones to use their service for a poor attempt at laundering, but I suspect as a non user steam is already using services to ensure that the sales are coming from legitimate computers and cards.
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