Fox News Media Files Motion To Dismiss Smartmatic Lawsuit

(RTTNews) - FOX News Media said it filed a motion to dismiss a lawsuit by electronic voting company Smartmatic, stating that the complaint seeks to "stifle debate and chill vital First Amendment activities."

On February 4, Smartmatic said it initiated a lawsuit against Fox Corporation, 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.

Smartmatic alleged that, 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 Media said Monday that it has moved to dismiss the Smartmatic lawsuit because it is meritless. If the First Amendment means anything, it means that Fox cannot be held liable for fairly reporting and commenting on competing allegations in a hotly contested and actively litigated election.

According to FOX News Media, the motion characterizes "two separate and independent reasons," arguing for dismissal and stating that "Smartmatic's complaint must be dismissed, and its efforts to reject deeply rooted free-press protections must be firmly rejected." "Smartmatic has not identified any statement by FOX itself that could be actionable as defamation," the filing also demonstrates that Smartmatic "fails to allege that FOX published the challenged statements with actual malice."

In conclusion, the motion argued that, "The logic of Smartmatic's position would be that the press must censor all discussion of even the most newsworthy of public controversies to escape imputation of actual malice, even in the context of statements by objectively newsworthy third parties during live television interviews," which is a blatant affront to the First Amendment.