The Dominion Voting Systems defamation case against Fox News was brutal for the network in a variety of ways, not least of which was the evidence that reached the public. We learned, for example, that the conservative outlet apparently promoted bogus election claims it knew to be false, on purpose, in order to placate its audience and make money.
The good news for the network is that Dominion’s case is over, resolved in April 2023 with a $787.5 million settlement. The bad news for Fox is that this wasn’t the only case of its kind.
As 2024 got underway, a New York judge ruled that a $2.7 billion defamation suit filed by Smartmatic, another voting technology company, against Fox could continue. As 2025 gets underway, a state appeals court has come to the same conclusion. The New York Times reported:
A New York State appeals court on Thursday rejected a request by Rupert Murdoch’s Fox Corporation to dismiss part of a $2.7 billion defamation lawsuit stemming from the broadcasting of misinformation around the 2020 presidential election. The lawsuit, filed by Smartmatic, a voting technology company, is on track to proceed to trial in state court in Manhattan.
As the Times’ report goes on to note, the judges concluded that Smartmatic’s claims that Fox Corporation directed Fox News to promote “a disinformation campaign in the post-election coverage, along with the allegations of Fox Corporation’s active participation in Fox News Network’s daily operations in connection with that coverage” are sufficient to allow the litigation to move forward.
Time will tell what becomes of the case — another settlement remains a distinct possibility — but as the legal process advances, it’s worth keeping in mind that Smartmatic’s lawsuit poses real dangers for Fox. The Washington Post published an analysis a while back that helped summarize the significance of the dispute.
Many of the allegations against Smartmatic were similar to those against Dominion, and Smartmatic was often lumped in with Dominion in the same allegation. They included the false claims that Dominion machines used Smartmatic software to rig the election. They included the claim that Smartmatic was used to rig elections before and that its purported foreign ties demonstrated that. Smartmatic’s software was also cast as eminently flawed and even deliberately hackable. Indeed, Smartmatic was often cast as the actual conduit for stealing the election.
The Post’s report quoted University of Utah law professor RonNell Andersen Jones who said, “Smartmatic’s suit is in many respects even more compelling as a David-and-Goliath argument to put before a jury. Its complaint emphasizes that it played a totally small and uncontroversial role in the election and that these damaging lies from Fox catapulted it to fame by catapulting it to undeserved infamy.”
For its part, a spokesperson for Fox said in a written statement, “We will be ready to defend this case surrounding extremely newsworthy events when it goes to trial.” She added, “As a report prepared by our financial expert shows, Smartmatic’s damages claims are implausible, disconnected from reality and on their face intended to chill First Amendment freedoms.”
Watch this space.
This post updates our related earlier coverage.
