Smartmatic, an election technology company, has followed through on a threat to sue the parent company of Fox News over comments made on the network suggesting the network participated in fraudulent activities during the Nov. 3 presidential election.
The company filed suit on Thursday in New York State Court in Manhattan, seeking $2.7 billion for defamation and disparagement and accusing Fox News of fomenting a “disinformation campaign against Smartmatic.”
“One of the biggest challenges in the Information Age is disinformation,” Smartmatic chief executive Antonio Mugica said in announcing the suit. “Fox is responsible for this disinformation campaign, which has damaged democracy worldwide and irreparably harmed Smartmatic and other stakeholders who contribute to modern elections.”
Fox News personalities Maria Bartiromo, Lou Dobbs and Jeanine Pirro were directly named in the suit, along with Fox News guests Sidney Powell and Rudy Giuliani. They were among commentators who suggested Smartmatic and another voting tech company, Dominion Voting Systems, participated in a conspiracy to steal the election from former president Donald Trump, despite no evidence of such a plot.
In a statement in response to the lawsuit, Fox News Media said it “is committed to providing the full context of every story with in-depth reporting and clear opinion,” adding, “We are proud of our 2020 election coverage and will vigorously defend this meritless lawsuit in court.”
Back in December, Smartmatic had put Fox News on notice with a 20-page legal demand letter asking for “a full and complete retraction of all false and defamatory statements and reports published by Fox News," to be done in a prominent manner when a lot of viewers were watching.
In response, Fox aired a short segment on several network shows that aimed to address misinformation about Smartmatic, using an outside expert and a common script to introduce the debunking segment. But, that attempt at debunking appears to have been insufficient. (Newsmax, a conservative cable network seeking to win over viewers from Fox News, also issued a clarification online and during broadcasts seeking to clear up incorrect information about Smartmatic and Dominion.)
Powell and Giuliani, who were previously sued by Dominion, did not immediately return The Post’s inquiries.
J. Erik Connolly, an attorney representing Smartmatic, accused Fox of knowingly lying about the company. "Smartmatic seeks to hold them accountable for those lies,” he said.
The lawsuit, which presents a massive challenge to Fox Corp, lays out how the comments made on its cable television networks has damaged its business and caused headwinds for the company around the globe.
Despite sending the networks legal threat letters, Smartmatic has not yet decided whether to sue Newsmax or One America News Network. “We are continuing to analyze our claims against OANN and Newsmax,” the company said. “We are taking a measured aproach to pursuing our claims.”
https://www.washingtonpost.com/media/2021/02/04/smartmatic-fox-lawsuit/
