Fox News Board Members Subpoenaed by Smartmatic Over Network's Election Misinformation

Fox News is staring down yet another billion-dollar lawsuit and lose even more money as the Smartmatic lawsuit is finally gaining traction. Several Fox Corp. board members are being subpoenaed by the voting machine company over its misinformation about the 2020 presidential election.

Fox News lost $787.5 million in a lawsuit from Dominion, another voting company, last year. The two sides settled, but not after Dominion managed to unearth several damning pieces of evidence that showed the conservative propaganda network knowingly spread misinformation as its commentators, producers, pundits, and anchors all knew that Donald Trump did lose to Joe Biden but still parroted debunked claims that he was cheated.

The Dominion lawsuit also showed that despite some Fox News personalities praising Donald Trump on air, such as Sean Hannity, Laura Ingram, and former Fox News host Tucker Carlson, whose leaked text messages show their disdain for the former president despite openly praising him on air.

According to CNN, the subpoenaed Fox Corporation board members are Anne Dias, Charles Carey, Roland Hernandez, and Jacques Nasser. They are expected to be questioned regarding the network's repeated airing of debunked conspiracy theories regarding the 2020 election.

"Accountability and responsibility do not stop with Rupert and Lachlan Murdoch," said Smartmatic lead attorney Erik Connolly in a statement. "Smartmatic plans to pursue Fox's board members as well to determine why they allowed the company's most valuable asset, Fox News, to spread disinformation about the 2020 election."

Smartmatic alleged that the subpoenaed board members "witnessed Rupert and Lachlan Murdoch's control of Fox News; exchanged relevant emails that Smartmatic has used in depositions and will mark as trial exhibits; attended meetings during and after Fox News broadcast the defamatory publications; and discussed the 2020 election and the competitive threats Fox News faced to its brand."

Fox News Employing First Amendment Defense Again in Smartmatic Lawsuit

For its part, Fox News had previously been ordered by New York Judge David Cohen to turn over documents related to the board members. Smartmatic also deposed Fox Corp. founder Rupert Murdoch last year. Murdoch previously admitted under oath that he knew that his network spread election misinformation.

Much like in the Dominion lawsuit, Fox News is also using the First Amendment defense, arguing that they have the right to talk about it because it was "newsworthy happenings related to the election."

Dominion Lawsuit Was Only the Beginning of Fox News's Legal Problems

The payout that Fox News had to give to Dominion Voting Systems was massive after the network used its platform to spread 2020 election misinformation. However, the Smartmatic case is still waiting.

As Vanity Fair noted, Smartmatic, which is also suing Newsmax and other defendants, has been "injured on a global scale" and is therefore seeking a much larger payout than Dominion as the damages are bigger. The company also previously hinted that it would be using evidence discovered in the Dominion lawsuit to go after Fox.

This article is owned by Latin Post.

Written by: Rick Martin

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