Smartmatic, a voting technology company, served Fox News, One America News (OAN) and Newsmax with legal notices over a “disinformation campaign,” CNN reported.
Smartmatic claims Fox, OAN and Newsmax have helped spread defamatory claims that the company allowed the election to be rigged in favor of Biden, per CNN. The company has also been accused of being associated with George Soros and former Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, according to CNN.
Antonio Mugica, Smartmatic chief executive, said, the networks lacked evidence to support their claims because no such evidence exists, per CNN. “This campaign was designed to defame Smartmatic and undermine a legitimately conducted elections,” Mugica said, according to CNN.
The legal notice to Fox News claims the network “embarked on a disinformation campaign against Smartmatic,” and included specific examples of unsupported claims perpetuated by either President Trump’s lawyer Rudy Giuliani or former Trump lawyer Sidney Powell, CNN reported.
The Smartmatic letter names Fox News hosts Lou Dobbs, Jesse Watters, and Maria Bartiromo as individuals who spread the conspiracy theories. A spokesperson told me that suing them individually is an option on the table. https://t.co/vb2kKDHmXg
— Jacob Shamsian (@JayShams) December 14, 2020
“Over the course of the campaign, Fox News published and republished dozens of false and misleading statements regarding Smartmatic,” the legal notice to Fox News states, per CNN.
The notice continues to state that if Fox had performed “even a modicum of investigation,” they would have realized the claims were inaccurate, CNN reported. (RELATED: 27 House Republicans Demand Special Counsel Appointed To Investigate Election Irregularities)
“Smartmatic demands a full and complete retraction of all false and defamatory statements reports published by Fox News. This retraction must be done with the same intensity and level of coverage that you used to defame the company in the first place,” the legal notice states, according to CNN.
While Fox News and OAN did not respond to CNN’s request for comment, Newsmax said, “As any major media outlet, we provide a forum for public concerns and discussion. In the past we have welcomed Smartmatic and its representatives to counter such claims they believe to be inaccurate and will continue to do so,” CNN reported.