A Texas appeals court has reduced a $50 million judgment against Alex Jones for falsely claiming the 2012 Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting was a staged hoax to $1.5 million.

The ruling stems from a 2022 trial in which Jones, a Texas-based right-wing political commentator and conspiracy theorist, was found liable by default for defamation and intentional infliction of emotional distress after repeatedly claiming the massacre was fabricated. A trial court ordered Jones to pay $50 million in damages to the parents of Jesse Lewis, a 6-year-old boy killed in the shooting.