The HONR Network was founded in 2014 by Lenny Pozner, the father of Noah Pozner, who was killed at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut, on December 14, 2012. HONR fights online harassment and hoax content that targets the victims of mass tragedies and their families. Noah was six years old. In the years after his death, Lenny and other Sandy Hook parents were told that their children never existed, that they were paid actors, and that their grief was staged. HONR grew out of Lenny’s refusal to let those lies stand.
What Sandy Hook parents faced
Within hours of the shooting, people online began claiming it was a hoax. Over time, those claims hardened into a cruel story: that the school was a film set, that the children were invented, and that grieving parents were “crisis actors.”
For the families, these were not abstract theories. They arrived as:
- Hoax claims that their children had never lived, including attacks on Noah’s death certificate and school records after Lenny made them public to prove his son’s life.
- Crisis-actor smears that turned TV interviews, funerals, and family photos into “evidence” of a staged event.
- Threats by email, voicemail, and social media.
- Stalking and exposure of home addresses, phone numbers, and other personal details, posted again each time a family moved.
Other Sandy Hook parents were targeted too.
How HONR fights back
- Delisting from search. HONR asks Google and Bing to delist hoax pages, stolen photos, and pirated copies of hoax books from their search results, so that a search for a victim’s name leads to the truth rather than to abuse.
- Copyright and DMCA notices. Families often own the copyright in their own photos and videos. HONR uses that ownership to file DMCA notices with websites, hosts, and platforms that republish those images to mock or deny a death.
- Platform policy reports. HONR reports content that breaks platform rules on harassment, hate, and tragedy denial to YouTube, Facebook, X, and others, and has pressed platforms to treat bereaved families as people who need protection. In 2018 Lenny and Noah’s mother wrote an open letter to Mark Zuckerberg asking Facebook to do more.
- Helping other victims’ families. What HONR learned from Sandy Hook now helps families after other mass tragedies, who face the same hoaxes and the same harassment.
Results and court accountability
Courts have held the people behind the Sandy Hook hoax accountable.
- Supreme Court denial. On October 14, 2025, the U.S. Supreme Court declined to hear Alex Jones’ appeal of the Connecticut Sandy Hook judgment, leaving it in place.
- Lenny’s own cases. In 2019 a Wisconsin jury awarded Lenny $450,000 in his defamation case against James Fetzer, co-author of a book claiming that nobody died at Sandy Hook.
These results matter beyond Sandy Hook. They show that spreading lies about grieving families has real consequences.
How families can get help
If you or your family are being harassed after a tragedy, or if hoax content about someone you lost is showing up online or in search, HONR may be able to help. You do not have to face it alone.
Frequently asked questions
Which Sandy Hook parents were harassed?
Many Sandy Hook families were targeted by people who claimed the shooting was a hoax. Lenny Pozner, father of Noah Pozner, is one of the most widely reported cases: he received death threats, had his personal details posted online, and moved many times to keep his family safe.
What is the HONR Network?
The HONR Network is a nonprofit that fights online harassment and hoax content aimed at the victims of mass tragedies and their families. It gets abusive content delisted from search, files copyright and DMCA notices, reports policy violations to platforms, and helps families learn to protect themselves.
Who founded HONR?
Lenny Pozner founded the HONR Network in 2014. His six-year-old son, Noah, was killed at Sandy Hook Elementary School on December 14, 2012.
How did Sandy Hook parents fight conspiracy theorists?
They fought on several fronts at once: getting hoax content delisted from search and taken down from platforms, using copyright in their own family photos, pressing tech companies to change their policies, working with law enforcement on threats, and suing the most prominent hoaxers for defamation. Those lawsuits produced large verdicts against Alex Jones and a defamation win for Lenny against James Fetzer.
Why did Lenny Pozner have to move so many times?
Hoaxers kept finding and posting his home address and other personal details online.
What happened in the Alex Jones Sandy Hook cases?
Juries in Connecticut and Texas found Jones liable and ordered him to pay large damages to Sandy Hook families in 2022.
Sources
- NPR (Dec 14, 2019), His Son Was Killed At Sandy Hook. Then Came The Online Harassment.
- PBS FRONTLINE (Jul 28, 2020), This Sandy Hook Father Lives In Hiding Because of Conspiracy Theories Fueled By Alex Jones
- Times of Israel (Aug 1, 2018), Parents of Jewish Sandy Hook victim forced to move 7 times due to harassment
- Times of Israel, Family that lost a son at Sandy Hook fights against vicious conspiracy theorists
- CBS News (Jun 8, 2017), Sandy Hook shooting conspiracy theorist sentenced for threat
- The Guardian (Jun 9, 2017), Sandy Hook conspiracy theorist gets prison time for threatening victim’s family
- The Guardian (Jul 25, 2018), open letter to Mark Zuckerberg by Leonard Pozner and Veronique De La Rosa
- AP (Oct 14, 2025), Supreme Court rejects Alex Jones’ appeal of $1.4B Sandy Hook judgment
- PBS NewsHour (Oct 14, 2025), Supreme Court rejects Alex Jones’ appeal
- NPR (Oct 15, 2025), Supreme Court rejects Alex Jones’ appeal of payment to Sandy Hook families
- CNN (Aug 5, 2022), Texas jury: $45.2 million in punitive damages to Sandy Hook parents
- BBC News (Oct 2019), Fetzer defamation verdict
- WTHR, “Nobody Died at Sandy Hook” author must pay victim’s dad $450,000
- NBC News (2020), Man accused of tormenting families of Sandy Hook victims arrested in Florida
- NBC News (2018), After years of crisis actor smears, Sandy Hook conspiracy targets ask…
- Wikipedia, HONR Network
- Wikipedia, Leonard Pozner
- Wikipedia, Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting conspiracy theories
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