Dominion Voting Systems and Smartmatic, two major voting technology companies, continue to face a series of election-related lawsuits stemming from the aftermath of the 2020 U.S. presidential election. These lawsuits largely revolve around allegations of election fraud and vote manipulation that were widely propagated by certain media personalities and political figures, despite lacking credible evidence.
Following the 2020 election, both Dominion and Smartmatic were accused of rigging the election results in favor of Joe Biden. These claims were amplified by some Fox News hosts and other conservative media outlets, who suggested that the voting machines either flipped votes or were otherwise manipulated. For example, Fox News host Jeanine Pirro used her platform to spread unfounded allegations that Dominion and Smartmatic had colluded to alter the election outcome. Despite internal warnings from Fox News executives cautioning against such claims, these narratives persisted on air, contributing to widespread misinformation about the election’s integrity.
As a result, Dominion filed a $787 million defamation lawsuit against Fox News, which was settled in 2023 after a judge ruled that the false claims against Dominion were “crystal clear.” Similarly, Smartmatic filed a $2.7 billion defamation lawsuit against Fox News, highlighting the role of hosts like Maria Bartiromo, Lou Dobbs, and Jeanine Pirro in promoting false election fraud stories. Smartmatic’s legal team has argued that these hosts knowingly spread misinformation to retain viewership despite knowing the claims were baseless.
Newsmax, another conservative network, also faced lawsuits for defamation related to its coverage of the 2020 election. It agreed to pay $67 million to settle a lawsuit brought by Dominion and had previously settled a separate libel lawsuit with Smartmatic for $40 million. Newsmax executives internally acknowledged the dangers of giving a platform to conspiracy theories without proper fact-checking, yet the network maintained that its coverage was balanced and important for public discourse.
Despite these costly settlements and ongoing litigation, Fox News and Newsmax have continued to thrive financially and maintain strong viewership among their audiences. Both networks have publicly defended their election coverage as fair and balanced, emphasizing their role in presenting multiple perspectives on the election disputes. Newsmax, in particular, has grown its business and even gone public, appealing to its predominantly pro-Trump audience.
The lawsuits against Dominion and Smartmatic are part of a broader legal and cultural battle over the 2020 election’s legitimacy. While courts have repeatedly found no evidence supporting claims of widespread fraud or vote manipulation by
