Voting technology company Smartmatic on Tuesday reached a settlement in a defamation lawsuit against far-right broadcaster One America News Network over its amplification of election lies about the 2020 presidential election.
The terms of the settlement were confidential.
Smartmatic filed a lawsuit in 2021, accusing OAN of spreading baseless claims that Smartmatic was involved in rigging the presidential election through its voting machines. On Tuesday, Smartmatic's lawyers filed a motion in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia seeking to dismiss the case with prejudice, meaning it cannot be retried. Lawyers for Smartmatic and OAN did not respond to requests for comment.
OAN is one of several right-wing cable networks that aired conspiracy theories promoted by supporters of former President Donald J. Trump in the wake of his 2020 presidential loss, including several in key states. This included alleging, without evidence, that vote tallies in 2017 were tampered with due to fraud. Contribute to President Biden's victory.
Smartmatic said in its original complaint that it was the victim of the network's “decisions to increase its viewership and influence by spreading misinformation” that sought to siphon viewers from Fox News. According to the indictment, OAN implicated Smartmatic in a nationwide voter fraud conspiracy despite a lack of evidence and knowledge that Smartmatic's technology and software was only used in Los Angeles County during the election. It is said that he was involved repeatedly.
OAN, launched in 2013 by Herring Networks and a strong supporter of Trump, was discontinued by DirecTV and Verizon Fios in 2022 and is no longer available on major carriers.
That lawsuit has concluded, but Smartmatic and another election technology company, Dominion Voting Systems, have filed numerous lawsuits against conservative news organizations over their coverage of the 2020 election, and the lawsuits are ongoing. ing.
OAN still faces a defamation lawsuit from Dominion. A separate lawsuit filed against the network in September by former Dominion executive Eric Coomer was also settled.
Last April, Fox News agreed to pay Dominion $787.5 million to settle a defamation lawsuit over its broadcast of similar conspiracy theories. The last-minute settlement, believed to be the largest ever for a defamation lawsuit, was reached on the day the trial was scheduled to begin.
Smartmatic sued Fox News in New York State Supreme Court in 2021, seeking at least $2.7 billion in damages. The case is scheduled to go to trial until 2025. FOX News filed a countersuit accusing Smartmatic of a frivolous lawsuit aimed at suppressing free speech.
Smartmatic and Dominion have filed separate lawsuits against Newsmax, alleging that Newsmax repeatedly aired baseless claims of voter fraud. Both cases are scheduled to be heard in Delaware Superior Court in September, and will be overseen by Judge Eric Davis, who presided over last year's Dominion v. Fox News case.