Right-wing news networks could be found guilty of election fraud claims in new liable cases.
After the 2020 presidential election, right-wing television news was a “wild west,” experts say, calling it a “lawless free-for-all” where conspiracy theorists pushed disinformation and proven-to-be-false conspiracies about voting machines, suitcases stuffed with ballots, and dead Venezuelan leaders.
There were almost no consequences for the stations for peddling the most outrageous ideas on primetime television. But now, that may change.
Fox News, One America News Network, and Newsmax are facing billion-dollar lawsuits as a result of their baseless accusations.
In June, Dominion Voting Systems, the company that provided voting machines for 28 states, was given a go-ahead to sue Fox Corp, which is the parent of Fox News. The case could draw Rupert Murdoch and his son Lachlan Murdoch into the spotlight.
The lawsuit is worth $1.6 billion, and in it, Dominion accuses Fox Corp and the Murdochs specifically of allowing Fox News to amplify false claims that the voting company had rigged the election for President Joe Biden.
Fox Corp tried its hardest to get the suit thrown out, but a judge in Delaware said Dominion had shown adequate evidence for the suit to proceed.
Dominion is also already suing Fox News, OAN and Newsmax.
“These allegations support a reasonable inference that Rupert and Lachlan Murdoch either knew Dominion had not manipulated the election or at least recklessly disregarded the truth when they allegedly caused Fox News to propagate its claims about Dominion,” the ruling judge, Judge Eric Davis, said.
Constitutional law experts said that Dominion has a very strong case against Fox, as well as against OAN.
Law experts said that the conspiracy theories pushed by the news corporations were “pure bunk,” and that they, as news organizations, should have known this, and not given this big lie a massive megaphone.
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