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Elon Musk wants to block the transfer of InfoWars' X accounts to The Onion [pdf] (storage.courtlistener.com)
9 points by vinni2 2 hours ago | hide | past | web | 13 comments | favorite





TL;DR: According to Twitter... erm, X, accounts are their property and they don't have to allow the transfer of accounts.

That's it, that's the whole argument. There is not stated reason why X should care. And it's not like any time a company has been bought or sold before that they have jumped in and say "nuh-uh".


How can he? It was a sale. Is he going to authorize everything?

IANAL, but AIUI, the situation is somewhat analogous to “debtor in possession”.

For example, if a “factory and everything in it” is sold in a bankruptcy auction, the buyer doesn’t get the vending machines owned by the 3rd party caterer. The vending machines are in possession of the debtor, but not owned by him. So the bankruptcy court can’t transfer them.

X is arguing that users do not own their handles, so X cannot be compelled to transfer a handle from one user to another as part of a bankruptcy auction.


While I agree I'm pretty sure InfoWars is a trademark the Onion now owns?

I don't think that means X is required to transfer the handle but I wonder if that would open them up to further lawsuits


Judge says he must still approve sale of Infowars to The Onion

  https://www.nbcnews.com/business/business-news/judge-review-alex-jones-attempt-block-infowars-sale-onion-rcna181377

*will own

And per ToS, accounts cannot be sold.

A company can be sold including its assets (its X account), but not a personal account - which Jones' account is.

@InfoWars and @AlexJones are different issues entirely.


> A company can be sold including its assets (its X account)

The argument would be that a company's X account is not one of its assets -- it is one of X's.


Twitter handles are owned by Twitter, not other entities.

Also the sale was blocked is the last I heard due to improper sale.


It’s not blocked, and there is no improper sale. Well, there is if you listen to Jones.

Jones is alleging that there was fraud and collusion between the Sandy Hook parents/victims and the executor of the sale. The judge will make a decision in a couple of weeks. There are two things being discussed with the judge—Jones’ allegations and a request from the appointee to approve the sale, and the judge has decided to handle both things in a single session.

Jones is trying to delay thing, and spouting a lot of nonsense in the process as usual.

https://apnews.com/article/alex-jones-infowars-auction-onion...


“I want a fair and transparent process and let’s just see where the process goes,” Lopez said.

Yikes.


Context for those who aren't up to date.

InfoWars does tens of millions in revenue per year, but is nothing without Alex Jones.

A Jones-friendly bid was made for $3.5M, while Onion bidded $1.75M.

Onion won the 'auction' (where you get a single bid, and no knowledge of other bids), because with their bid also came commitments from some of the Sandy Hook families to drop their claims for compensation ($1.5B in total). This $1.5B was never collectable in the first place.


I'm gonna need a community note on this "context"

By what logic was this $1.5 B not collectible in the first place?

Edit: Also

> The Onion estimates its total bid value is $7 million.




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