this post was submitted on 20 Jan 2024
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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.

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[–] Honytawk@lemmy.zip 139 points 10 months ago (5 children)

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?

[–] andros_rex@lemmy.world 44 points 10 months ago (1 children)

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.

[–] ynthrepic@lemmy.world 19 points 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago) (15 children)

If you're poor though they just put you in jail while they figure that stuff out. If they figure it out.

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[–] Pratai@lemmy.ca 28 points 10 months ago (14 children)

Because America is entirely broken.

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[–] LinkOpensChest_wav@lemmy.dbzer0.com 56 points 10 months ago (10 children)
[–] ClydapusGotwald@lemmy.world 50 points 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago) (11 children)

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.

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[–] ahornsirup@sopuli.xyz 6 points 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago) (4 children)

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.

[–] Asayhem@lemmus.org 15 points 10 months ago (2 children)

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.

[–] Schmidtster@lemmynsfw.com 4 points 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago) (1 children)

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.

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[–] K0W4LSK1@lemmy.dbzer0.com 49 points 10 months ago (1 children)

Fun fact the game can be beaten in 45 minutes and steam refund policy allows returns on games played 2 hours or less

[–] thorbot@lemmy.world 91 points 10 months ago (4 children)

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.

[–] PostaL@lemmy.world 25 points 10 months ago (1 children)

True... But if you buy and return it you can give it a negative review?

[–] CowsLookLikeMaps@lemmy.world 10 points 10 months ago

Now we're talkin'

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[–] AeonFelis@lemmy.world 28 points 10 months ago (1 children)

This article invests a lot of effort trying to make it look like it's all Steam's responsibility.

[–] UnderpantsWeevil@lemmy.world 4 points 10 months ago

It IS their store.

[–] ItsAFake@lemmus.org 26 points 10 months ago
[–] Zealousideal_Fox900@lemmy.world 23 points 10 months ago (8 children)

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.

[–] Schadrach@lemmy.sdf.org 5 points 10 months ago (1 children)

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.

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[–] GoodbyeBlueMonday@startrek.website 23 points 10 months ago (5 children)

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).

[–] makyo@lemmy.world 17 points 10 months ago (1 children)

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.

[–] stratosfear@lemmy.sdf.org 14 points 10 months ago (8 children)

I flagged it as Child Exploitation for the simple fact one of the screenshots says Epstein Island...

[–] maniacalmanicmania@aussie.zone 4 points 10 months ago

Followed suit. Cheers.

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[–] blazeknave@lemmy.world 21 points 10 months ago (3 children)

Can't they just garnish his shit and empty his bank accounts?

[–] SulaymanF@lemmy.world 9 points 10 months ago (2 children)

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.

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[–] CharlesDarwin@lemmy.world 15 points 10 months ago (2 children)

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.

[–] UnderpantsWeevil@lemmy.world 10 points 10 months ago (3 children)

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.

[–] CharlesDarwin@lemmy.world 5 points 10 months ago (4 children)

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.

[–] UnderpantsWeevil@lemmy.world 5 points 10 months ago

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.

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[–] doctorcrimson@lemmy.world 5 points 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago) (4 children)

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.

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[–] YeetPics@mander.xyz 10 points 10 months ago

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.

[–] CharlesDarwin@lemmy.world 10 points 10 months ago (1 children)

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".

[–] evranch@lemmy.ca 4 points 10 months ago (5 children)

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

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[–] toed@lemmy.l0l.city 10 points 10 months ago

I'll stick to playing Broforce

[–] protist@mander.xyz 7 points 10 months ago

If they know where money is coming from, aren't there legal mechanisms to take it directly from Valve?

[–] bramblepatchmystery@slrpnk.net 6 points 10 months ago

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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