Alex Jones and Infowars Sued for Defamation Over False Identification of Parkland Shooter 

Very soon after a gunman entered the Parkland, Florida school, an Infowars post boasted of having obtained a photograph of the suspect, outfitted in “communist garb.” The photograph was, of course, not of the assailant, but of Fontaine, dressed in a red shirt printed with the images of Joseph Stalin, Vladimir Lenin, and Karl Marx. The Guardian reported on Tuesday that this image was most likely first published on 4chan. The photograph was posted to Infowars for at least five hours before it was taken down.

The lawsuit, which was filed in Austin, Texas’s Travis County District Court, asserts that Fontaine’s image was displayed on Infowars because of the shirt he was wearing in that photograph. “Mr. Jones and Infowars have long been consumed with paranoia over the prospect of communist infiltration and indoctrination,” the lawsuit reads. “Over the past year alone, Infowars has featured hundreds of sensationalist articles and videos focusing on the threat of communist agitation and conspiracies.”

Fontaine’s attorney, Mark Bankston, told The Guardian, “Many harassers seem to believe my client is part of a false flag operation conducted by the ‘deep state.’”

On February 14, the same day of the shooting—which ultimately claimed 17 lives—Nikolas Cruz was arrested and later confessed to the crime.