Satirical news site The Onion acquired conservative news platform Infowars this week after winning a bidding war with the site’s supporters.

With help from the families of the victims of the 2012 Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting, The Onion bought Infowars on Wednesday. The auction win gives the site control over Infowars’ brand name, social media accounts, website, production equipment and customer lists.

“The Onion is proud to acquire Infowars, and we look forward to continuing its storied tradition of scaring the site’s users with lies until they fork over their cold, hard cash,” Onion CEO Ben Collins said.

The Onion didn’t disclose the purchase amount but said the victims’ family members who supported the bid agreed to forgo additional compensation to help improve the company’s offer. The Onion said it will host new content on the Infowars website starting early next year.

Infowars owner and host Alex Jones agreed this year to auction off everything related to the site to help pay the nearly $1.5 billion he owes to the families of Sandy Hook victims after losing a defamation case.

Mr. Jones had called on Infowars fans to support the site by outbidding hostile actors like The Onion. After learning that The Onion won, he called the acquisition “unconstitutional” and asked fans to continue supporting him.

“I don’t know what’s going to happen,” Mr. Jones said. “But I’m going to be here until they come in there and turn the lights off. I’m going to say, ‘Where’s your court order?’”

• Vaughn Cockayne can be reached at vcockayne@washingtontimes.com.