Smartmatic settles defamation case against OAN over 2020 election conspiracy theories
Written by ABC Audio. All rights reserved. on April 17, 2024
(NEW YORK) — The voting tech company Smartmatic has entered into a settlement with the right-wing news outlet One America News to resolve its lawsuit against the network for peddling lies about the 2020 election, according to a new statement from the company.
“Smartmatic has resolved its litigation against OANN through a confidential settlement,” Erik Connolly, Smartmatic’s lead attorney said in a statement to ABC News.
Both parties notified a federal judge in Washington, D.C. Tuesday of their intent to drop the case, according to a court filing, without further explanation of the details of the settlement.
Smartmatic filed the lawsuit in November of 2021, accusing the network of “knowingly and deliberately” spreading “a continuous stream of falsehoods that harmed Smartmatic and negatively impacted the company’s business.”
The lawsuit was just one among a number of defamation suits filed by companies and individuals targeted by backers of former President Donald Trump in their sweeping campaign to spread false conspiracy theories undermining the integrity of the 2020 election.
In April of last year, Dominion Voting Systems entered into a massive $787.5 million settlement with Fox News over falsehoods spread about the company’s role in the 2020 election.
Smartmatic similarly sued both Fox News and the far-right media organization Newsmax in addition to its lawsuit against OAN, and those cases still remain unresolved as of Tuesday.
ABC News reached out to an attorney for OAN Tuesday but did not immediately receive a response.
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