While the presidential election was nearly five months ago, some of the repercussions of the election are just beginning. With such a controversial and polarized election, there are many allegations of voter fraud and tampering with election votes that are still being spoken about many months post-facto.
The company responsible for the electronic voting software in the US and Canada, Dominion Voting Systems, has decided to stop these claims of election fraud, deciding to sue various media outlets, lawyers, and CEOs for defamation.
Dominion has filed four lawsuits with the most recent one against Fox News last week, attempting to counter false allegations that Dominion’s voting machine switched votes for Trump to votes for Biden. Some of the other conspiracies surrounding the Dominion Voting System are that the company used algorithms developed in Venezuela to sway the election and change votes.
While these conspiracies and claims seem almost laughable, Dominion Voting System’s reputation is at stake. As Dominion’s lawyers wrote in their formal complaint, “The truth matters. Lies have consequences.”
Dominion has previously filed lawsuits against pro-Trump lawyer Sidney Powell, Trump’s former lawyer Rudy Giuliani, and MyPillow CEO Mike Lindell. All three of these lawsuits requested $1.3 billion in damages.
Dominion’s current lawsuit against Fox is spurring much controversy.
Fox Media is strongly opposing the allegations against them and is maintaining that their coverage of the 2020 presidential election was in accordance with the “highest tradition of American journalism”.
Conservative outlets are siding with Fox Media claiming that this lawsuit is infringing on press freedom, arguing that media outlets have the right to report the news and don’t necessarily need substantial evidence.
However, there are also many spectators that are siding with Dominion and believe that Fox Media should be helped accountable for knowingly broadcasting and publicizing blatant lies.
In the near future, Dominion has already indicated that they plan on filing additional lawsuits against other media outlets that also spread false allegations against Dominion.
The Dominion lawsuits and their final outcomes will set pivotal precedents in determining the bounds of freedom of the press in the media.