Fox News has been sued again for defamation following the 2020 presidential election

During the Fox News broadcast, it was alleged that the results of the presidential election were manipulated using voting machines from Smartmatic and Dominion, another voting machine manufacturer that Fox News sued last year.

The media group settled Dominion's case and paid the company approximately $788 million (725 million euros) of the $1.6 billion the company had demanded. Smartmatic is seeking $2.7 billion (2.48 billion euros) in the new case.

Earlier Wednesday, a judge ruled in favor of Fox News, ruling that the company can move forward with a countersuit, alleging that Smartmatic grossly exaggerates its damages.

Fox News has always maintained that theories shared during its broadcasts fall within free speech rights and that the company's journalists were only discussing allegations made by then-President Donald Trump and his supporters. They claim that Trump, not Joe Biden, is the legitimate winner of the election. No evidence of this has been found.

Fox CEO Rupert Murdoch said at the time New York times However, Dominion admitted during his testimony in Dominion's lawsuit that some of his hosts supported Trump's claims. Internal communications also made it clear that the creators of Fox News knew full well that the stories about election fraud were untrue.

The Dominion settlement ended Fox News' partnership with popular host Tucker Carlson, who regularly repeated allegations on his show about the company's machines.