Fox News Scores Legal Victory in Smartmatic Defamation Battle
Fox News has secured a significant procedural win in its ongoing legal fight with voting technology company Smartmatic, as a New York appeals court on Tuesday granted the network access to documents it says are critical to its defense.
The court overturned a lower ruling and allowed Fox News to obtain materials related to a federal bribery case involving senior Smartmatic executives. The network argues that these documents – linked to allegations that company officials paid over $1 million in bribes to secure a contract in the Philippines – are essential to challenging Smartmatic’s claims of reputational harm.
Smartmatic, which filed a $2.7 billion defamation lawsuit against Fox News in 2021, maintains that the network aired false claims tying its technology to voter fraud in the 2020 U.S. presidential election. The company insists those baseless allegations, repeated by Fox hosts and guests, devastated its reputation and business prospects.
In a statement following the court decision, Fox said, “We are pleased with the Court’s ruling that materials about Smartmatic executives’ indictments are ‘plainly relevant’ to its lack of damages.” The network maintains that Smartmatic’s reputation was already faltering due to its overseas legal troubles and not because of coverage aired on Fox News.
The bribery allegations have been denied by Smartmatic, and the executives charged have pleaded not guilty. The company argues that Fox’s attempt to shift blame is just another distraction from its role in spreading election misinformation.
“Fox trying to blame anyone other than itself for Smartmatic’s injuries is just more lies from Fox,” said Smartmatic attorney Erik Connolly. “The writing is on the wall. Lies have consequences.”
The case has drawn comparisons to the 2023 Dominion Voting Systems lawsuit, which ended in a $787 million settlement after court documents revealed Fox insiders cast doubt on the very election fraud claims they broadcast. Smartmatic, relying on similar evidence and arguing even greater damage, is pursuing a much larger payout.
Both parties have filed motions seeking summary judgment—requests for the judge to resolve the case without trial. If those motions are denied and no settlement is reached, the case could move to trial in 2026.
Fox News has framed the lawsuit as a threat to press freedom, saying it was simply covering newsworthy allegations made by former President Donald Trump’s legal team. Smartmatic, however, maintains that the coverage crossed the line from reporting into deliberate misinformation.
