United States, Boca Raton – February 4, 2021 – Smartmatic today initiated a lawsuit against Fox Corporation (Nasdaq: FOXA), owner of Fox News Network LLC, seeking in excess of $2.7 billion, plus an additional amount for punitive damages, for defamation and disparagement as a result of the disinformation campaign against Smartmatic by Fox and other named defendants following the 2020 US presidential election. The complaint was filed in New York State Court in Manhattan.
“One of the biggest challenges in the Information Age is disinformation,” said Antonio Mugica, CEO of Smartmatic. “Fox is responsible for this disinformation campaign, which has damaged democracy worldwide and irreparably harmed Smartmatic and other stakeholders who contribute to modern elections.”
In November and December 2020, Fox News broadcast multiple reports stating and implying that Smartmatic had fixed and rigged the 2020 election. They repeated the false claims and accusations on air and in articles and social media postings that were together seen by millions in the US and even more around the world.
“Fox News 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,” said Smartmatic’s attorney J. Erik Connolly, Vice Chair of the Litigation Practice Group, at Benesch, Friedlander, Coplan & Aronoff, LLP.
For the US 2020 election, Smartmatic provided election technology manufacturing, systems integration, software development and logistics only for Los Angeles County, California. The company did not provide any products or services to any other states or jurisdictions.
