Alex Jones and Infowars smear Dominion

Andrea Austria / Media Matters

Research/Study Research/Study

Alex Jones uses lies about Dominion Voting Systems and the 2020 election to line his pockets

Written by Timothy Johnson

Research contributions from Ryan Masri & Will DiGravio

Published

Far-right conspiracy theorist Alex Jones and his media operation Infowars continue to profit from the lie that voter fraud was used to steal the 2020 election from Donald Trump, specifically by repeatedly targeting voting machine and software company Dominion Voting Systems. Infowars’ online video and streaming platform Banned.video hosts numerous videos that promote conspiracy theories about Dominion and its employees while also prominently featuring ads for the Infowars Store, which sells nutritional supplements and other products. 

Infowars has been smearing Dominion and its employees for more than six months with numerous conspiracy theories falsely connecting the company to election fraud, including through nonexistent links to foreign countries and with false claims of evidence purportedly showing illegal conduct by Dominion and its employees. 

Given the potential negative impact on Dominion and its employees — who make voting equipment and software used by many states —this harassment is more than just  an instance of charlatan Jones lining his pockets, as despicable as that may be. Various conspiracy theories progenerated by Jones and his outlet have previously spurred his fans to engage in harassment, make death threats, and in some cases, take violent action.

Following the 2020 election and the widespread lies about it pushed throughout right-wing media, Dominion filed lawsuits against Fox News, former Trump personal lawyer Rudy Giuliani, and far-right attorney Sidney Powell, who had spearheaded a series of frivolous lawsuits that sought to undermine the election results. Dominion has also sent out letters demanding that individuals and right-wing media outlets stop spreading defamatory information about the voting machine company, including to a former temporary Dominion worker who has appeared on Infowars. 

That former employee, Mellissa Carone, whose false claims about Dominion and voter fraud in Michigan brought her to national prominence and who has registered as a candidate for the Michigan state legislature, appeared on Infowars as recently as June to baselessly allege Dominion employees engaged in “fraud” during the election. 

Infowars has also pushed some of the same false claims about a Dominion employee that were retracted by conservative outlet Newsmax, which was forced to apologize to the employee in response to a lawsuit. Newsmax retracted the claim that Dominion systems engineer Eric Coomer had participated on a call with members of “antifa” in which he supposedly said he would manipulate election results to Trump’s detriment. That claim also flourished at Infowars, and that attack and others on Coomer are still featured at the Infowars streaming platform Banned.video. In one such video, an Infowars host exhorted viewers to “remember that name Eric Coomer” while broadcasting those lies about him. 

Coomer is also suing far-right figure Jim Hoft, who appeared on Infowars to spread his Dominion lies. Jim’s twin brother, Joe, appeared on Infowars as recently as May to argue voting officials should not use Dominion products. 

These and other lies promoted by Infowars are likely to damage Dominion by undermining its credibility and deterring customers. Infowars is also putting Dominion employees in danger by unfairly casting them as participants in a nefarious and treasonous scheme to rig the 2020 election. 

What’s more, Infowars’ profiteering off of these lies may have already helped fund deadly consequences. Jones, by his own admission, provided significant funding to the January 6, 2021, event in Washington, D.C., that culminated in a failed insurrection at the U.S. Capitol, which left police officers and Trump supporters dead. Prior to the attack, Jones and his outlet had stoked outrage among his supporters with lies about the 2020 presidential election, often falsely casting Dominion as a key component of an insidious, though imaginary, plot that successfully stole the 2020 election from Trump. 

Infowars uses Dominion lies to promote its store in two main ways: by placing links to the Infowars store promising discounts in Dominion-related video descriptions at Banned.video, and by including prerecorded advertisements featuring Jones and other Infowars personalities within the videos themselves. 

Infowars often connects current events to its product pitches in order to make arguments for their purchase. For example, as the number of COVID-19 cases drastically rose in the United States in early 2020, Infowars raised the price of its bulk “survival” food products while hammering the prospect of food shortages in ads. Similarly, Infowars later falsely pitched some of the nutritional supplements it sells as COVID-19 preventatives. Additionally, some Infowars advertising included in videos about Dominion promoted a “stop the steal” special, urging supporters to buy Infowars Store products to fund Infowars’ support for overturning the 2020 election on the basis of false election theft claims. 

Below is a sampling of Infowars videos that feature falsehoods about Dominion. All of the following segments are still available at Infowars’ Banned.video as of publication. 

Select an Infowars smear of Dominion Voting Systems

  • In a Dominion-themed segment, an Infowars host speaking during a November Washington, D.C., rally presaged the January 6 violence by hyping the prospect of Trump supporters beating opponents into a “bloody pulp in the street.”

  • November 13, 2020: An Infowars video was originally posted to Banned.video with the description “[Infowars host] Harrison [Smith] breaks down the strange election process that the Dominion software used in our most important election,” followed by the text: “Get all 3 NEW products in the Mega Immune Support Pack at 40% off today!” (The products advertised in Banned.video descriptions seem to rotate. For example, the video later advertised Infowars Store’s “new Green Organic Fiver Caps” nutritional supplement.) 

    During the video, Infowars host Owen Shroyer tacitly encouraged violence from Trump supporters who were traveling to Washington, D.C., for a rally the next day to promote the false claim that the election was stolen. Shroyer encouraged supporters to “stop the steal,” and said, “I think tomorrow in D.C., you know, I have to admit I'm a little concerned. I was a little concerned at first that the left was going to come out here and kind of be overwhelmingly violent, not in the numbers, obviously, just in their commitment to being violent, and their commitment to attacking people, and I was kind of concerned they would get violent and that would happen.” 

    Shroyer went on to say, “But, you know, I'm starting to have a turn on my opinion there, because what I think, and I'm afraid, and I'm not condoning this activity. I'm afraid that if the liberals, the leftists, the communists show up tomorrow, I'm afraid that Trump supporters are just gonna beat them to a bloody pulp in the street. And again, I'm not condoning that, I'm just telling you the level of frustration, the level of being fed up, the level of disgust that American patriots now have for these communists is starting to reach a fever pitch.” 

    He then predicted that Trump supporters would not be “turning the other cheek” to liberals in D.C., “especially if there’s a million of us out here.” Shroyer then repeatedly promoted the Infowars Store, and an ad for the Infowars Store ran at the end of the video while on screen graphics urged viewers to “stop the steal” by funding “the last line of defense in the fight against tyranny”:

  • Infowars tells viewers to "stop the steal" by buying Infowars products

  • An Infowars video claims Dominion has been “rigging” elections in the United States “for years.”

  • November 16, 2020: An Infowars video title asserted, “Dominion Voting Systems Have Been Rigging Us Election For Years.” The video’s description calls Dominion a “threat” before touting the Infowars Store.

  • Jim Hoft talks about Dominion on Infowars

  • In the video, Infowars host Owen Shroyer referenced numerous conspiracy theories about Dominion, saying, “We have documented evidence with Dominion and Venezuela influence, Dominion and German influence, Dominion and Spanish influence, Dominion and Chinese influence.” He then encouraged viewers to potentially die in a violent internecine conflict on the basis of his false election claims, saying, “It's liberty or death; it's not liberty or we'll complain a little bit. It's not liberty or we're going to get a little louder. It's not liberty or, fine, we’ll capitulate. No, it's liberty or death. And it was 3% of American patriots that built this country, stopped the British tyranny from going worldwide, and it will be the same 3%, the heritage of America, that stop it again if we have to come to that.” The video contained two ads for the Infowars Store, one of which Shroyer branded as the “Stop the Steal special.” Shroyer’s “3%” comments were likely referencing the anti-government Three Percenter militia movement.

  • While pushing false claims about Dominion employee Eric Coomer, Infowars guest Jim Hoft celebrated that Dominion employees were “in hiding”

  • November 16, 2020: Infowars published a video supposedly shining a light on “the Dominion setup” that purported to explain how “Democrats Programmed Voting Machines To Make Sure Biden Won Despite Actual Results.” In the video, guest Jim Hoft of the disreputable far-right website The Gateway Pundit claimed Dominion’s voting machines were “set to steal this election from Donald Trump.” Later during the video, when Infowars’ Owen Shroyer claimed the people who stole the election had been caught, Hoft responded by saying, “And they got caught this time; they got caught. And the Dominion guys are in hiding, that one antifa Dominion official, he’s disappeared, and I believe they got caught.” (Hoft is currently being sued by the Dominion employee he was referencing, who Hoft baselessly claimed was a violent person who was recorded on a conference call with “antifa” describing how he helped steal the election for Joe Biden.) The video carried two advertisements for the Infowars Store.

  • An Infowars host declared Dominion employees “guilty” of trying to steal the election and attempted to share their personal information on-screen.

  • November 18, 2020: Infowars published a video with the headline “HALF of DOMINION Workforce DELETED their LinkedIn Accounts in last 48 hrs!” and description “Over HALF of DOMINION Workforce just DELETED their LinkedIn Accounts in last 48 hrs! Here's the Link to Image: [...]Get all 3 NEW products in the Mega Immune Support Pack at 40% off today!” In the video, then-Infowars host DeAnna Lorraine accused Dominion employees of criminal wrongdoing, saying, “Why would they delete it? Why would they delete their LinkedIn pages? Maybe to not have any kind of ties to Dominion publicly, right? Because they might know that they are going to be in trouble. Or they're going to be interviewed, or they are going to be investigated, and their ass is on the line.That's why. There is no other reason to do that, and it’s totally not normal to do that unless something’s happening, unless they’re guilty of something, which they know they are, and they want to hide their tracks. That's why they would hide and scrub their accounts.” Lorraine’s accusation, which was made as the Infowars broadcast showed the purported names of Dominion employees, was immediately followed by an Infowars Store video pitch featuring Alex Jones.

  • An Infowars host claimed false allegations linking Dominion to dictator Hugo Chavez had been “proven” moments before seemingly fantasizing about lynching former President Barack Obama.

  • November 18, 2020: Infowars published a video that promised to show “Video Of Corrupt Dominion Voting Systems That Big Tech Doesn’t Want You To See.” The video’s description claimed that an Infowars host would provide “video evidence of Dominion voting systems corruption,” and it included this pitch for the Infowars Store: “Get all 3 NEW products in the Mega Immune Support Pack at 40% off today!” (The Banned.video posting was later updated to change the product pitch in the description to an iodine supplement sold by Infowars.) While guest-hosting The Alex Jones Show, Infowars’ Owen Shroyer said of false accusations against Dominion, “It's all been proven. That's why they run with these systems, that's why they tested it with Hugo Chavez in Venezuela and then when it worked to steal elections for the communists in Venezuela it went nationwide.” (The claim that Chavez was somehow involved in Dominion’s business for election stealing purposes has been a key component of Sidney Powell’s false claims.) Shroyer went on to implicate former President Barack Obama in election malfeasance before speculating about the former president’s neck size, seeming to reference the length of rope that would be required to wrap around the former president’s neck so he could be lynched. The video ended with a four-minute ad for the  Infowars Store.

  • From a November 18, 2020, video posted to Infowars streaming platform Banned.video

  • An Infowars host touted false claims about Dominion employee Eric Coomer and told viewers to “remember” his name.

  • November 18, 2020: Infowars published at Banned.video a video with the title “‘I'll Make Fcking Sure Trump Doesn't Win!’ says DOMINION Employee to Antifa.” The title is referencing false claims made about Dominion employee Eric Coomer, who reportedly “was forced to flee his home” because of threats made against him after he became the target of right-wing 2020 election lies. During the video, then-Infowars host DeAnna Lorraine repeated the “antifa” conference call lie and said, “Remember that name Eric Coomer, and he is a rabid anti-Trumper, very violent and vocal about it." Lorraine also claimed Dominion products were designed by “three Venezulean engineers” to include a “feature” to switch votes. Lorraine also falsely said Dominion “owns” voting technology company SmartMatic, which has also been targeted by right-wing conspiracy theories.The video featured an ad for the Infowars Store.

  • Infowars head Alex Jones took credit for an “exclusive” that falsely linked Dominion to China and then became one of the most prominent conspiracy theories targeting the company.

  • December 1, 2020: An Infowars video was published with a title that falsely claimed, “Smoking Gun: Swiss Bank Fund Owned by Chinese Government Gave Dominion 400 Million on Eve of Election.” The conspiracy theory that Dominion received hundreds of millions of dollars from China shortly before the 2020 presidential election was touted by Alex Jones as an “Infowars exclusive.” Jones then falsely said that Dominion is owned through parent companies by philanthropist and financeer George Soros, who has been the target of antisemitic conspiracy theories and attempts at violence because of false right-wing claims about him. During the video, Jones encouraged supporters to “visit the tip of the spear, Infowars.com, ... you will see the top story, ‘Voting machine firm that owns Dominion Voting Systems received $400 million from Swiss bank fund, 75% plus owned officially by the communist Chinese government.’” (The Chinese investment conspiracy theory claim is false because it confuses two similarly named investment entities, one that is based in China and one that is based in the U.S. The U.S.-based entity invested in Dominion, while the Chinese-based one did not). Saying that “one of the president’s sons” had asked him to investigate false voter fraud claims, Jones said that he had hired a “security firm” that supposedly discovered the false Dominion-China connection he was promoting as an Infowars “exclusive.”

  • From a December 1, 2020, video posted to Infowars streaming platform Banned.video 

  • The end of the video features a five-minute ad for the Infowars Store. 

  • An Infowars video falsely claimed Dominion employees had been “caught” changing votes, with Alex Jones saying “what Dominion did is absolutely criminal.”

  • December 2, 2020: An Infowars video with the title “Smoking Gun Gwinnett County Dominion Officials Caught Manipulating Tabulation Data Via USB!” falsely alleged Dominion had nefariously changed voting results in Georgia. A description for the video touts, “Get all 3 NEW products in the Mega Immune Support Pack at 40% off today!” In the video, Alex Jones says, “What Dominion did is absolutely criminal,” basing this allegation on his claim that “we went and did the research, hired a forensics investigation firm to look at the filings, and investigate Dominion, and sure as hell, they are corrupt as you can imagine.”

  • Infowars further used its false Dominion-China conspiracy theory to connect the company to the family of Osama bin laden.

  • December 4, 2020: Infowars published a video that purported to connect Dominion to terrorist Osama bin Laden’s family on the basis of several false claims, including that Dominion is owned by the Chinese government, the false claim that Infowars initiated days earlier. The video’s description at Banned.video included a pitch for the Infowars Store and the video itself featured an ad for the store that ran for more than three minutes.

  • An Infowars video promoting the false claim that Dominion changed votes to Biden featured a host saying the country’s only options are to “set our voting system right” or have another civil war.

  • December 6, 2020: Infowars published a video that claimed in its title: “Georgia County Proves Dominion Machines Changed Votes To Biden Clip.” Like some other Infowars videos about Dominion, it contained violent threats, with Infowars host Harrison Smith saying, “What do we do when we know for certain that all of this has gone on, and yet nothing has been done about it? Maybe it's time to relearn the lessons that our Founding Fathers learned in 1775 and 1776.” He later added that there are “convincing arguments that Trump may have won every single state in the union” but for voter fraud and that the only options were to “set our voting system right” within the next two years or have a “literal” second American civil war. The video description touted Infowars Store’s “Mega Immune Support Pack at 40% off today!”

  • Promoting his false Dominion-China “exclusive,” Alex Jones said, “We know what you did, you little dirty bastards.”

  • December 8, 2020: Alex Jones again said that Infowars was the progenitor of the conspiracy that falsely claimed Dominion is owned by China in a video with the title “News That Communist China Owns Dominion Goes Viral.” That claim is false and has been one of the major conspiracy theories targeting Dominion. The video’s description at Banned.video reads, “Alex Jones breaks down how Infowars 'Tomorrow's News Today' broke the news that Dominion was funded by the Chinese government before the story went viral. Get all 3 NEW products in the Mega Immune Support Pack at 40% off today!” The start of the video combines several Infowars clips to implicate Dominion in stealing the election from Trump, with Jones saying, “We know what you did, you little dirty bastards.” In addition to the ad that appears in the video description, an additional Infowars Store spot runs at the end of the video.

  • An Infowars host said that Dominion products had been designed “for the purpose of fraud.”

  • December 16, 2020: During a broadcast of Infowars show Sunday Night Live that was published to Banned.video with the title “Dominion CEO Lies Through His Testimony On Hearing Over Election Machine Irregularities,” then-Infowars host DeAnna Lorraine alleged a criminal conspiracy by Dominion, saying, “The whole system is corrupt. The Dominion system has these built-in features to move the votes, to have this high rate of error, to get the ballots adjudicated, right? And, then, what happens is then they delete the fraudulent ballots, they delete the evidence.” During the broadcast she also said Dominion’s voting machine or software was designed “for the purpose of fraud,” and asked, “Why even have a hearing if they are just going to lie, unless we are going to expose them, prosecute them, and jail them?” The video’s end featured an ad for the Infowars Store.

  • Infowars’ Alex Jones said “evidence overwhelmingly shows” that Dominion was involved in election malfeasance in Arizona and a guest urged that the company’s products not be used.

  • May 14, 2021: Following a several-month period where Infowars did not focus many of its videos on Dominion, Banned.video published an Infowars broadcast with a title falsely alleging Trump actually won the state of Arizona in the 2020 presidential election and a description that included an ad for the Infowars Store. At the top of the broadcast, Jones claimed, “Evidence overwhelmingly shows now, and I've got a giant stack confirming it, law enforcement is investigating, that Dominion wiped all the servers illegally after the election and covered up the paper trail. Of course we knew that. And now by the hand counts they found that Trump won by a giant landslide, and the same tactics were used in every other state, but they stole the election.”

  • From a May 14, 2021, video posted to Infowars streaming platform Banned.video

  • Guest Joe Hoft, a regular guest on Infowars broadcasts and a ”contributing editor” at his brother’s Gateway Pundit website, further claimed that Dominion’s products suffer from some kind of flaw that could wrongly tilt election results and “should never be used until that is fixed.”

  • Mellissa Carone appeared on Infowars and claimed that she saw Dominion employees engaged in “fraud” to help Biden.

  • June 23, 2021: Mellissa Carone, a temporary Dominion employee hired to do menial tasks on Election Day 2020 who has been threatened with legal action by Dominion if she does not stop spreading lies about the company, appeared on Infowars, alleging that she witnessed a Dominion employee fill out “fraudulent ballots” to help Biden. The video was published at Banned.video with the title “Whistleblower Overheard Dominion Conversation Exposing Election Meddling” and a description that promoted a product at the Infowars Store. During her appearance, Carone also predicted that the (false) claims of election fraud, propagated by her and others, mean that “it’s going to be left up to the people to do something” and that will cause “almost a civil war in our country.”