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Voting Company Smartmatic Sues Fox News, Giuliani, Sidney Powell For Defamation [forbes.com]:

Topline

Voting machine company Smartmatic filed a lawsuit [smartmatic.com] Thursday against Fox News and several of its top stars, along with Rudy Giuliani and Sidney Powell, for pushing a false conspiracy theory involving the company’s machines, becoming the second voting company to seek retribution against the far right for using the voting machines in their attempt to overturn the election results.

Key Facts

The $2.7 billion lawsuit was filed Thursday in New York state court against Fox Corporation—Fox News’ parent company—and media personalities Maria Bartiromo, Lou Dobbs and Jeanine Pirro, as well as attorneys Giuliani and Powell.

The far right has pushed baseless claims that Smartmatic and Dominion Voting Systems voting machines were used to fraudulently flip votes in the presidential election to Joe Biden, which were spread in part through right-wing media outlets like Fox News, Newsmax and One America News.

Smartmatic alleges in their lawsuit that Fox, Powell and Giuliani spread the conspiracy theory knowing it was false, alleging the defendants “decided to make Smartmatic the villain in their story” for their own “selfish and financial reasons.”

Smartmatic had previously [forbes.com] sent letters to Fox, Newsmax and OAN in December demanding they retract their claims and warning of potential litigation, prompting Fox and Newsmax to then walk back [forbes.com] their claims on-air and state there is no evidence linking Smartmatic’s machines to election fraud.

In an email to Forbes, Powell decried the lawsuit as “just another political maneuver motivated by the radical left that has no basis in fact or law,” and Giuliani has not yet responded to a request for comment.

“With this action, Smartmatic says: Enough. Facts matter. Truth matters,” the lawsuit reads. “Defendants engaged in a conspiracy to spread disinformation about Smartmatic. They lied. And they did so knowingly and intentionally. Smartmatic seeks to hold them accountable for those lies and for the damage that their lies have caused.”

“FOX News Media is committed to providing the full context of every story with in-depth reporting and clear opinion,” a Fox News Media spokesperson said in a statement to Forbes. “We are proud of our 2020 election coverage and will vigorously defend this meritless lawsuit in court.”

Smartmatic noted [smartmatic.com] on their website that the company is still “continuing to analyze our claims against OANN and Newsmax,” suggesting future litigation could be coming. “We are taking a measured approach to pursuing our claims,” the company said.

Smartmatic’s lawsuit comes after Dominion previously filed two $1.3 billion lawsuits against Powell and Giuliani for defamation over the election fraud conspiracy. Dominion has warned it will also likely file subsequent lawsuits against media networks, and the voting company has sent cease and desist letters [forbes.com] to Newsmax, One America News, Fox News and the Epoch Times, as well as conservative media personalities Sean Hannity, Rush Limbaugh, Bartiromo and Newsmax’s Greg Kelly.

Fox News, Newsmax Walk Back Election Fraud Claims After Voting Machine Manufacturer Threatens Legal Action [forbes.com] (Forbes)

Dominion Voting Sues Sidney Powell For Defamation Over Election Conspiracy—And Others May Be Next [forbes.com] (Forbes)

Dominion Voting Sues Rudy Giuliani For $1.3 Billion Over Election Conspiracy [forbes.com] (Forbes)

Dominion Going After Right-Wing Media Stars Over Voting Fraud Conspiracy Theory, CEO Won’t Rule Out Suing Trump [forbes.com] (Forbes)

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