Fox News to pay $787,5 million in misinformation lawsuit during 2020 election: new legal challenges face company

On April 18, Fox News eliminated one legal threat by entering into a $787,5 million defamation agreement with Dominion Voting Systems. But Fox is facing another $2,7 billion lawsuit from another voting technology company, reports Reuters.

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Dominion accused Fox and its parent company Fox Corp (FOXA.O) of ruining its business, saying its machines were used to rig the 2020 U.S. presidential election in favor of Democrat Joe Biden and against Donald Trump.

Fox and its parent company Fox Corp have agreed to a deal that is half of Dominion's $1,6 billion request. But it is still the largest libel agreement publicly announced by an American media company. Fox, one of the world's most influential cable networks, admitted in an April 18 statement that "some of the claims about Dominion were false."

But Fox's lawyers will continue to deal with the fallout from the network's coverage of the 2020 election, with a potentially far more damaging libel suit from Smartmatic.

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Smartmatic, a global election technology company headquartered in London, filed a defamation lawsuit in February 2021, reports Guardian. “The earth is round,” was the surprising first sentence of the complaint. - Two plus two equals four. Joe Biden and Kamala Harris won the 2020 election..."

The complaint further alleges that, contrary to these undisputed facts, Fox News broadcast a series of outright lies in support of Trump's election conspiracy theories. “The defendants did not want Biden to win the election. They wanted President Trump to win re-election... They also saw an opportunity to capitalize on President Trump's popularity by making up a story,” the lawsuit states.

To support this story, the lawsuit alleges, Fox needed a villain. That villain was Smartmatic.

Smartmatic claims that Fox News hosts and guests have made over 100 false claims. It was falsely claimed that Smartmatic participated in the 2020 election count in six contested states – in fact, the company was only present at the count in Los Angeles County.

Fox said that Smartmatic shared its technology with Dominion, even though the two companies did not actually have contact and considered each other rivals. Smartmatic has been colluding with foreign governments to rig the vote, Giuliani said on The Bartiromo Show, a claim the company disputes as false and slanderous.

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Fox also described Smartmatic as a company founded in Venezuela at the behest of corrupt dictators. In fact, Smartmatic was founded by Antonio Mugica and Roger Piñate in 2000 in Boca Raton, Florida with the goal of using technology to restore people's faith in election results.

Since then, their business has grown all over the world. The firm claims it has lost customers in what it calls Fox's "disinformation campaign".

Fox News disputed Smartmatic's multibillion-dollar loss estimate, calling it wildly inflated.

It's unclear if Fox's deal with Dominion indicates it's open to settling with Smartmatic, but experts outside the litigation have suggested it could help kickstart negotiations.

“Smartmatic now has a bargaining chip, and Fox has shown it's willing to take out its checkbook and write a big check,” said Stuart Brotman, a Knoxville media law professor at the University of Tennessee. “From Fox’s perspective, now that they understand they can achieve a successful settlement, they have the basis for a real discussion with Smartmatic.”

Smartmatic is seeking $2,7 billion in damages from Fox and five people, including former Trump lawyers and hosts.

Smartmatic alleges in its New York County Supreme Court lawsuit that the defendants knowingly spread false claims that the company's software was being used for vote spoofing. Conspiracy theorists have erroneously claimed that Dominion is owned by Smartmatic, and the companies have made similar allegations in their lawsuits.

Smartmatic lawyer J. Eric Connolly said on April 18 that the company is seeking to clear its name, make amends and "hold Fox accountable for undermining democracy." Fox denied the allegations, saying the network had the right to report newsworthy allegations of voter fraud. She also called Smartmatic's claims for damages "outrageous and not based on sound financial analysis."

Fox recently failed in this case after the court rejected its appeal. Smartmatic "detailed" that Fox "actually supported and participated" in the defamation.

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Former Fox producer Abby Grossberg has filed a lawsuit against the company. Grossberg claims she was sexist at Fox and was unfairly fired after she refused to give misleading testimony in the Dominion case.

Fox said the allegations were "unfounded" and were immediately investigated by outside lawyers. The network also says it will "strongly" defend against all of Grossberg's claims.

As ForumDaily wrote earlier:

• Developer of technologies for voting Smartmatic aboutblamed Fox News for misinformation in favor of Trump.

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