Beautiful Virgin Islands

Sunday, Jul 12, 2026

Fox News moves to dismiss Smartmatic $2.7 billion defamation suit, blasts as ‘meritless’

Fox News moves to dismiss Smartmatic $2.7 billion defamation suit, blasts as ‘meritless’

Fox News is pushing back against a lawsuit from voting firm Smartmatic, which goes after the network and specific hosts, including the recently canceled Lou Dobbs, for pushing election-fraud conspiracy theories.
Others cited in the lawsuit for tying Smartmatic to alleged election fraud are Jeanine Pirro and Maria Bartiromo. The company takes umbrage with everything from being tied to foreign nations to reports it was used across the country when it was only used in Los Angeles County.

Fox News has now filed a motion in New York Supreme Court, defending themselves under the First Amendment and using former president Donald Trump and his legal counsel, Rudy Giuliani, as excuses for airing any falsehoods, saying it presented information without any “malice,” and simply aired interviews or covered theories pushed by Trump and Giuliani.

“In that context, interviewing the President’s lawyers is fully protected First Amendment activity, whether those lawyers can substantiate their claims or not,” reads the motion. “Here, Fox was providing precisely that kind of newsworthy information – typically allowing the President’s surrogates to explain their allegations and evidence themselves.”

Fox has called the lawsuit “meritless” and chalked up any statements by its hosts as opinion, rather than established fact. They have also noted that Smartmatic is a company that can be considered a public figure under the law, raising the standard for proving defamation.

In their suit, Smartmatic claims Fox knowingly aired misinformation because they “saw an opportunity to capitalize on President Trump's popularity by inventing a story” and making their company “the villain.”

The more widely used Dominion, another voting software firm, has also taken legal action recently against public figures pushing election-fraud conspiracy theories tied to them. The company has promised more suits are in the works and has suggested Fox News could be one of their targets.
Newsletter

Related Articles

Beautiful Virgin Islands
0:00
0:00
Close
The AI Invoice Shock: Layoffs Didn't Save Managers Money — They Cost Them More
Concern: Sexually Transmitted Bacterium Among Men Develops Antibiotic Resistance
Following Massive Investor Demand: SK Hynix Raises 26.5 Billion Dollars on Nasdaq
Passenger Partially Pulled Out of Ryanair Jet After Cabin Window Fails Mid-Flight
After Four Years, and Under a Heavy Veil of Secrecy: King Charles Meets His Grandchildren, Harry and Meghan's Children
Severe Heatwave Drives Dangerous Ground-Level Ozone Pollution Across Two Thirds of European Union
Westminster in Freefall as Farage's By-Election Gamble Triggers Broader Systemic Crises
Institutional Fractures and Political Volatility Reshape Britain's Domestic Landscape
Deadly Fire, Health Emergencies and Political Upheaval Shape a Volatile Global News Cycle
Flight Instructor Jumped to His Death — Student Landed the Plane: "You Know What You Need to Do"
The Physical and Electronic Barriers Disrupting Domestic Wireless Networks
France and Morocco Open World Cup Quarter-Finals as Collina Defends Refereeing
Prince Harry Suffers Major Court Defeat in Legal Battle Against Daily Mail Publisher
Bonnie Tyler, Welsh Singer Behind Total Eclipse of the Heart, Dies at 75
Tech Pulse: The Future of AI and Screen Culture
Global News Briefing: Escalating Geopolitical Tensions and Corporate Shakeups
Global News Brief: Escalating Conflicts, Public Health Crises, and World Cup Drama
Federal Financial Framework Shifts as Treasury Launches Universal Savings Program for Minors
French Court Allows Le Pen to Run for Presidency, but with an Electronic Tag: "I Will Appeal, and I Will Run"
$1.4 Trillion: The Lawsuit That Could Crush Meta
Europe's Growing Struggle with Extreme Heat and Air Conditioning
UK Daily Briefing: Legal Developments and Social Issues
Political Turmoil and Rising Costs
Anthropic Reengineers Agentic Architecture to Shift Autonomous Workplace Automation to the Cloud
Logic Flaw in Windows 11 Permission Architecture Silently Consumes Hundreds of Gigabytes of Local Storage
Apple Advances Late-Stage Operating Systems with Fourth Beta Deployments
Global Crisis Alert: Escalating Middle East Tensions and UK Political Upheaval
Deep Purple Has Released Its Best Album in Decades
Microsoft Lays Off 4,800 Employees and Xbox Suffers the Hardest Blow
Morocco and France Advance as 2026 FIFA World Cup Enters Quarterfinals.
Historic 2026 Tour de France Opens in Barcelona With Revamped Team Time Trial.
Global Mergers and Acquisitions Approach $4 Trillion Defying Geopolitical Tumult.
Negotiators Advance 20-Point Framework for Gaza Ceasefire and Demilitarization.
OECD Warns Middle East Conflict Will Depress Global Economic Growth.
Ukrainian Drones Strike Major Oil Terminal in St. Petersburg.
World Meteorological Organization Issues Urgent Alert Over Rapidly Intensifying El Niño.
United States Commemorates 250th Anniversary With Diplomatic Summits and Global Flotilla.
Iran Begins Days-Long Funeral for Supreme Leader Khamenei Amid Strait of Hormuz Standoff.
Technology giant reports surging carbon emissions driven by artificial intelligence infrastructure demands.
Artificial intelligence adoption accelerates workforce reductions across the technology and financial sectors.
Global technology and financial conglomerates collaborate to launch a new stablecoin standard.
United States regulators lift export restrictions on a major frontier artificial intelligence model.
Luxury bags take over the World Cup: style, status symbol, or just showing off?
×