News anchors work at Newsmax's booth during the 2024 Republican National Convention in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. The network has settled with voting-tech company Smartmatic, which accused it of defamation following the 2020 presidential election.Once more, a voting tech company has settled its defamation lawsuit over false allegations of voter fraud in the 2020 presidential election before the start of trial — in this instance, Smartmatic USA’s suit against the conservative network Newsmax.
Much like Dominion’s case against Fox, Smartmatic’s case against Newsmax centered on false statements made on dozens of television segments in late 2020 in which hosts, producers and guests linked the voting machine company to vote-switching conspiracy theories.Smartmatic operated only in Los Angeles County during the 2020 elections. No fraud was alleged there. Given California’s strong Democratic tilt, no influence could have affected the broader outcome.
Even so, the further unspooling of its defense strategy may have proven embarrassing for Newsmax. In a day-long pre-trial hearing earlier this month, the network’s lawyers indicated that some of its litigation strategy may have relied on the argument that producers at the cable news channel didn’t didn’t realize Smartmatic and Dominion were two separate companies.