Conservative News Outlet News Max agreed to pay voting equipment company SmartMatic dollars last year as part of a settlement in a honour-loss lawsuit over News Max’s decision to broadcast false claims about the 2020 election, a new filing revealed.
The parties did not disclose details of the settlement when they arrived in September, but Newsmax revealed the settlement amount for the March 7 financial return. The news outlet said it offered SmartMatic the option to buy shares at the company and has paid a $20 million settlement amount to date.
A Newsmax spokesman declined to comment beyond the statement issued by the company after the settlement last year.
SmartMatic voting equipment was used only in one US jurisdiction during the 2020 election. Nevertheless, Donald Trump and other conservative outlet allies have repeated false claims that the company hacked the vote and sent it abroad.
SmartMatic sued Newsmax, a honour-loss loss to far-right networks One America News and Fox, claiming they broadcast false claims about the company after the 2020 election. Previously resolved in one American news, and the lawsuit against Fox is ongoing. In January, a New York appeal judge said the company’s $2.7 billion lawsuit against Fox could progress.
Fox has agreed to pay another voting equipment company, the $787.5 million Dominion Voting System, to settle the honour-defeating lawsuit over its 2023 election claim.
All lawsuits are closely monitored by First Amendment Scholars as a test of whether Honorary Lib Land law could be an effective tool to curb misinformation. For example, in the case of Dominion and Fox, the legal process created public internal Fox messages indicating prominent hosts and key staff.
