No. No, it should not be.
And, since there was profit from the lying, shouldn't the damages be greater than the profit from the lies?
Yes. Yes, it should be.
i hate double standards
Yes, we should everyone accountable for slander & libel. Even journalists.
>i hate double standards
Aren't we? Please provide examples of actual defamation (i.e., lies that were known to be lies, that caused damage to the subject of those lies) that haven't been the subject of legal proceedings?
Edit: Changed "libel" to "defamation" to be more inclusive as to give you more opportunity to provide examples.
The Jones trials entered the public imagination because he's a character and his defense was clownishly incompetent in a way that takes no legal training to laugh at.
[1] https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2022-08-05/alex-jone...
Liars on CNN get fired. Plaigiarists at the New York Times get fired.
Let's contrast this to ... say ... Fox "News".
Oh, wait, Fox testified in court that they weren't news.
Sorry, my fault.
Yes.
You can sue news media companies under the same laws Alex Jones was sued. People do it all the time.
And, legally, I'm pretty sure (but IANAL) that "deliberately lied", "repeatedly", "for profit", and "causing harm" were very relevant in deciding how much the fine should be.
(Except, as entiex pointed out, that this was only compensatory, not punitive. Still... the harm went on and on and on for the families, as the lies went on and on and on. Is that allowed to be figured into the amount of compensatory damage? I think so.)
My overall point: It wasn't just "saying something is a hoax". It was much more than that, and therefore the damage is much more, so the fine is much more, and justly so.