RUTHFULLY YOURS

Defamation laws are often abused, but this week came a rare victory for the First Amendment and legal recourse against slander. On Wednesday Alex Jones, a right-wing gadfly who occupies one of the darker corners of the internet, settled a lawsuit filed by Chobani yogurt over odious falsehoods on Mr. Jones’s website Infowars.

“During the week of April 10, 2017,” Mr. Jones said in a video on his website, “certain statements were made on the Infowars Twitter feed and YouTube channel regarding Chobani, LLC that I now understand to be wrong. The tweets and video have now been retracted and will not be reposted. On behalf of Infowars, I regret that we mischaracterized Chobani, its employees and the people of Twin Falls, Idaho the way we did.”

As humiliating apologies go, this is one for the ages. The contrition is warranted: An April Infowars tweet and video carried the title “Idaho Yogurt Maker Caught Importing Migrant Rapists.” Chobani’s founder is a Turkish immigrant who has hired hundreds of refugees to work in his plants. Mr. Jones’s outfit suggested that Chobani workers in Idaho were connected to a gruesome sexual assault perpetrated by minors. For added class, Infowars said that maybe refugees had spread tuberculosis.

The allegations are false, though the video spread across the internet thanks to thousands of tweets and shares on social media. Drudge published the headline “REPORT: Syrian ‘Refugees’ Rape Little Girl at Knifepoint in Idaho.” Chobani sued Mr. Jones for what the suit described as a “classic” case of defamation, which includes acting with malice.

Mr. Jones first insisted he would fight the Chobani suit, but his lawyers must have helped him realize that he was barreling toward an expensive defeat. Chobani has declined to disclose settlement details, but perhaps this encounter will dissuade Mr. Jones and his allies from peddling untruths this outrageous. Congratulations to Chobani for fighting back against a real example of fake news.