Smartmatic has a high-priced demand for Fox News and its hosts — as well as a reminder of some simple facts of life.
On Tuesday, the voting technology company filed a defamation lawsuit against Fox News, several of its hosts, and lawyers for former President Donald Trump. It's seeking $2.7 billion after the defendants' false claims of election fraud not only "caused irreparable damage to Smartmatic, but it contributed to an erosion of trust and civility in the country," the company alleged.
The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
The defendants in the case "have always known these facts," Smartmatic alleged in the suit. But because they "did not want" Biden and Harris to win, they "invented" a villain in Smartmatic and pinned false allegations of election fraud on them, the suit continued. Smartmatic provided election support in Los Angeles County — a place whose election results were never in dispute. All of these false claims "jeopardize[d] Smartmatic's survival," but also "led a mob to attack the U.S. Capitol," the suit said, going on to repeatedly excoriate the defendants' alleged role in destroying faith in democracy.
Voting machine company Dominion also sued Giuliani and Powell last month after the lawyers falsely claimed the company changed Trump votes to Biden.
-
Nvidia: unstoppable force, or powering down?Talking Point Sales of firm's AI-powering chips have surged above market expectations –but China is the elephant in the room
-
5 hard-working cartoons about Labor Day celebrationsCartoons Artists take on creation of AI, spelling mistakes, and more
-
Codeword: September 7, 2025The Week's daily codeword puzzle
-
New York court tosses Trump's $500M fraud fineSpeed Read A divided appeals court threw out a hefty penalty against President Trump for fraudulently inflating his wealth
-
Trump said to seek government stake in IntelSpeed Read The president and Intel CEO Lip-Bu Tan reportedly discussed the proposal at a recent meeting
-
US to take 15% cut of AI chip sales to ChinaSpeed Read Nvidia and AMD will pay the Trump administration 15% of their revenue from selling artificial intelligence chips to China
-
NFL gets ESPN stake in deal with DisneySpeed Read The deal gives the NFL a 10% stake in Disney's ESPN sports empire and gives ESPN ownership of NFL Network
-
Samsung to make Tesla chips in $16.5B dealSpeed Read Tesla has signed a deal to get its next-generation chips from Samsung
-
FCC greenlights $8B Paramount-Skydance mergerSpeed Read The Federal Communications Commission will allow Paramount to merge with the Hollywood studio Skydance
-
Tesla reports plummeting profitsSpeed Read The company may soon face more problems with the expiration of federal electric vehicle tax credits
-
Dollar faces historic slump as stocks hit new highSpeed Read While stocks have recovered post-Trump tariffs, the dollar has weakened more than 10% this year
