Smartmatic has settled its election defamation lawsuit against One America News Network for an undisclosed amount.
A statement given by Smartmatic attorney Erik Connolly simply said the company “resolved its litigation against OAN through a confidential settlement,” and did not provide further details of the agreement.
The voting technologies company filed suit against OAN and other right-wing cable TV networks a year after the 2020 election, in connection to reports that falsely insinuated Smartmatic equipment was used to steal the presidency from Donald Trump.
The former president often expressed support for OAN, and the embattled network responded in kind.
Smartmatic alleged OAN’s false assertions reduced the company’s value from $3 billion to $1 billion, according to Reuters. But the outlet’s ability to do harm was greatly reduced in 2022 when television carriers DirecTV, Verizon and AT&T cut ties with the network.
OAN directed an inquiry about its Smartmatic settlement to attorney Charles “Chip” Babcock, who confirmed the matter was settled.
The San Diego-based organization still faces litigation with Dominion Voting Systems over allegations that company’s technologies were exploited to remove Trump for office. Dominion confirmed Tuesday that suit “is still ongoing.”
While there’s no indication voting equipment was manipulated to alter the outcome of the 2020 election, the claim was also amplified by Newsmax and Fox News, the latter of which paid a record $787.5 million to settle a defamation suit with Dominion almost exactly one year ago.
Smartmatic filed a $2.7 billion suit against Fox News and several of its on air personalities in February 2021. The cable channel said at the time they were “proud of our 2020 election coverage and will vigorously defend this meritless lawsuit in court.”
Fox News founder Rupert Murdoch was reportedly deposed for that case in November. Smartmatic claims the 93-year-old media mogul didn’t believe his networks’ election fraud theories, “but encouraged Fox News Network to embrace the disinformation as a tool to win back the audience.”
