Dominion sues Fox News for $1.6 billion over election fraud claims

Vote machine maker Dominion on Friday filed a $1.6 billion defamation lawsuit against Fox News for claiming that its machines were used to rig the 2020 US presidential election, which former president Donald Trump lost, reported AFP. Dominion has argued that the news broadcast made false claims because it was losing its audience, which includes many of Trump’s supporters. 

This is the second defamation case against Fox News. It was already sued in February for similar reasons by another voting machine company, Smartmatic.

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“So Fox set out to lure viewers back — including president Trump himself — by intentionally and falsely blaming Dominion for president Trump’s loss by rigging the election,” the suit alleges.

Dominion has also sued Trump’s lawyer, former New York City mayor Rudy Giuliani and another lawyer for the former president, Sidney Powell, over the false claims.

The viral claims saw Dominion pilloried online and in conservative media and forced the company to repeatedly defend its reputation, despite no evidence that its vote tallies were erroneous.

Dozens of state and federal rulings, as well as the US Congress, have rejected such allegations.

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In the 139-page complaint filed Friday in the eastern state of Delaware, the company accuses Fox News of spreading “outlandish, defamatory, and far-fetched fictions” about Dominion.

The firm is claiming more than $1.6 billion in damages, of which it claims $1 billion for the loss of value to the company and $600 million in lost profits.

In a statement, Fox defended its work on the election.

“Fox News Media is proud of our 2020 election coverage, which stands in the highest tradition of American journalism, and will vigorously defend against this baseless lawsuit in court,” it said.

The channel also noted it aired an interview at the end of November 2020 with Dominion representative Michael Steel, in which he explained how the machines work and dismissed allegations of vote-switching as “not physically possible.”