Judge allows voting tech company to sue Fox News for spreading conspiracy theories about 2020 election

A Delaware Supreme Court judge ruled this Tuesday that Fox News’ parent company can be sued for defamation by a voting tech company because Rupert and Lachlan Murdoch may have acted with “actual malice” in allowing the network to air pundits’ conspiracy theories about mass voter fraud in the 2020 election, Bloomberg reports.

Delaware Superior Court Judge Eric M. Davis denied Fox Corp.’s motion to dismiss the suit brought by Dominion voting systems, saying that the Murdochs may very well have been aware that the conspiracy theories were false. Evidence cited in the suit is the fact that Rupert Murdoch spoke with Trump a few days after the election “and informed him that he had lost,” according to the judge.

“These allegations support a reasonable inference that Rupert and Lachlan Murdoch either knew Dominion had not manipulated the election or at least recklessly disregarded the truth when they allegedly caused Fox News to propagate its claims about Dominion,” said Davis.

From Bloomberg:

Davis noted in his ruling that, according to Dominion’s suit, various news outlets reported that Rupert Murdoch spoke with Trump and other senior Republicans shortly after the election and urged them to drop their election-fraud narrative and concede defeat. The voting-technology firm was also able to point to a claim that Murdoch urged a Republican leader to ask other politicians in the party not to endorse Trump’s false theory about Dominion, the judge said.

Davis noted in his ruling that “other newspapers under Rupert Murdoch’s control — including the Wall Street Journal and New York Post — condemned President Trump’s claims and urged him to concede defeat.”

Read the full report over at Bloomberg

Sky Palma

Before launching DeadState back in 2012, Sky Palma has been blogging about politics, social issues and religion for over a decade. He lives in Los Angeles and also enjoys Brazilian jiu jitsu, chess, music and art.