On May 18th, Fox News filed a motion to dismiss the $1.6 billion defamation lawsuit filed against it by Dominion Voting Systems. Dominion’s technology was used during the 2020 presidential election in more than two dozen states.
Filed in the Superior Court of the State of Delaware, Fox News claims that the suit “threatens to stifle the media’s free-speech right to inform the public about newsworthy allegations of paramount public concern.”
In March, Dominion sued Fox for “outlandish, defamatory, and far-fetching fictions” that the TV network helped spread, including claims that the voting technology company rigged the election in favor of Joe Biden, and that the company paid kickback to government officials who used its machines in the 2020 election.
In its motion for dismissal, Fox asserts that its hosts did not make up these allegations, and that when President Donald Trump challenged the election results, the network “fairly and extensively covered them just as it had reported the election results.”
“A free press must be able to report both sides of a story involving claims striking at the core of our democracy—especially when those claims prompt numerous lawsuits, government investigations, and election recounts. When a sitting President of the United States and his legal team challenge a presidential election in litigation throughout the nation, the media can truthfully report and comment on those allegations under the First Amendment without fear of liability,” the motion reads.
Fox News’ motion asks the Court to dismiss the suit for failing to state a claim.
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