“We are very pleased to have secured the completion of the case against Newsmax,” Smartmatic said in a statement. “We are now looking forward to our court day against Fox Corp. and Fox News for their disinformation campaign. Lying to the American people has consequences. Smartmatic will not stop until the perpetrators are held accountable.”
Election technology company Smartmatic has settled its defamation lawsuit against Newsmax.
According to The Guardian, the case had been scheduled to proceed to trial early next week. However, a spokesperson for a Delaware-based court said that both parties had reached an agreement on Thursday. Additional details were not provided, and have not yet been released.
“Newsmax is pleased to announce it has resolved the litigation brought by Smartmatic through a confidential settlement,” said Bill Daddi, a spokesperson for the conservative news network.
Newsmax, writes The Guardian¸ shared several false claims about Smartmatic in the aftermath of the 2020 presidential election. For example, Newsmax repeatedly suggested that Smartmatic’s software had been “hacked” or “rigged” to change votes in favor of President Joe Biden.
Smartmatic has filed similar lawsuits against other right-leaning networks, including One America News Network and FOX News. It settled its claims against OANN earlier this year, but its case against FOX remains pending.
“We are very pleased to have secured the completion of the case against Newsmax,” Smartmatic said in a statement. “We are now looking forward to our court day against Fox Corp. and Fox News for their disinformation campaign. Lying to the American people has consequences. Smartmatic will not stop until the perpetrators are held accountable.”
But FOX has since responded with more vitriol, using news of the settlement to launch further attacks on Smartmatic and the integrity of its claims.
“Smartmatic unsurprisingly chose to settle its case with Newsmax on the eve of trial after a series of major setbacks devastated its case,” FOX said in a statement. “Smartmatic’s claims against FOX are similarly impaired, unsupported by the facts and intended to chill First Amendment freedoms.”
“We look forward to defending this case when it goes to trial,” FOX said.
However, other media reports indicate that Newsmax likely had compelling reasons to settle. The Guardian, for instance, notes that discovery uncovered an internal letter from Newsmax CEO Christopher Ruddy. Written in November 2020, the letter admitted that Newsmax had no evidence whatsoever of widespread voter fraud.
“Newsmax does not have evidence of widespread voter fraud. We have no evidence of a voter fraud conspiracy nor do we make such claims on Newsmax,” Ruddy wrote on November 12, 2020. “We have reported on significant evidence of widespread election irregularities and vote fraud. We will continue to report on that. We believe we should not censor allegations made by the President or his lawyers or surrogates. Our job is not to filter the news but report information and allow Americans to decide.”
Bob Sellers, a Newsmax host and producer, also questioned Newsmax’s coverage of fraud-related allegations.
“How long are we going to have to play along with election fraud?” Sellers asked. “Trump’s MO is always to play victim. And answer this question. Is there anything at all that could result in another election? The answer is no. And are there enough votes that could be switched or thrown out from fraud or irregularities? No.”
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Newsmax and Smartmatic settle 2020 US election defamation lawsuit
Voting-tech company settles with right-wing network over false election claims
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