Fox News and its parent company Fox Corp. reached a $787.5 million settlement with electronic voting company Dominion Voting Systems on April 18 to avoid a trial regarding Fox News’ role in spreading misinformation during the 2020 presidential election.
Dominion Voting Systems filed a lawsuit against Fox News for $1.6 billion in 2021, alleging Fox News anchors made false claims about the company’s voting technology during the 2020 election.
According to Dominion Voting Systems, certain Fox News anchors claimed Dominion technology directly switched votes from President Trump to President Biden.
Gregory Miller, co-founder of the Open Source Election Technology Institute, a Palo Alto-based nonprofit working to increase transparency in voting technology, said the settlement ultimately came down to a business deal.
“As much as America hoped the Dominion versus Fox lawsuit was going to be their ability to hold Fox accountable, (the lawsuit) was a transactional matter between two companies,” Miller said. “Dominion was able to make a compelling case that their brand had been materially damaged by incessant misinformation that Fox was all too willing to proliferate for the sake of their viewing audience.”
Ted Glasser, Professor Emeritus of Communication at Stanford University, said the case centered around the definition of actual malice, referencing the 1964 Supreme Court decision of New York Times vs. Sullivan.
To demonstrate actual malice was committed, Dominion had to prove...
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