The conservative outlet Newsmax has agreed to pay $67m to Dominion Voting Systems to settle a defamation lawsuit over lies about voting in the 2020 election.
The settlement came as the case was headed to trial. Earlier this year, Delaware superior court judge Eric Davis ruled that Newsmax had defamed the voting technology company by broadcasting false claims about its equipment after the 2020 election. A jury would have considered whether Newsmax was liable for damages. Dominion had sued the outlet for $1.6bn.
After the 2020 election, lies about the security of Dominion voting machines, which are widely used in the US, became central to Donald Trump’s false claim that the election was stolen from him. Allies and other rightwing personalities made baseless claims that votes had been flipped and that the equipment was not secure.
“We are pleased to have settled this matter,” Dominion said in a statement to CNN.
In a lengthy statement of its own, Newsmax was defiant, saying it chose to settle not because it was admitting wrongdoing, but because it believed Davis would not give the company a fair trial.
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“Newsmax believed it was critically important for the American people to hear both sides of the election disputes that arose in 2020,” the company said. “We stand by our coverage as fair, balanced, and conducted within professional standards of journalism.”
Newsmax will be paying the settlement in three instalments until January 2027.
Dominion obtained a $787.5m defamation settlement from Fox in 2023 on the eve of a defamation trial in Delaware. Ahead of the settlement, Dominion lawyers obtained internal communications from Fox hosts and personalities that showed they knew many of the outlandish claims the outlets hosts and guests were broadcasting about the election were not true.
Newsmax agreed to pay $40m to settle a defamation case against Smartmatic, another voting equipment company, last year. One America News, another far-right outlet, also settled a defamation case with Smartmatic last year.
Fox is now defending itself in a pending defamation suit brought by Smartmatic.
