Smartmatic sends 'cease and desist' letters, demands retractions from Fox News, OAN and Newsmax

[NightHawkeye]

From the "We'll soon see who does what ... and when", files: A voting technology company at the center of election conspiracy theories demanded a retraction from Fox News, accusing them of 'a concerted disinformation campaign'

Smartmatic, a voting technology company, sent cease and desist letters on Monday to Fox News, One America News, and Newsmax, demanding retractions.
...
In a letter to Fox News obtained by Insider, Smartmatic says Fox News hosts Lou Dobbs, Jesse Watters, and Maria Bartiromo have been instrumental in spreading the conspiracy theories, which first gained widespread currency with lawsuits from ex-Trump lawyer Sidney Powell.
​

Lin Wood tweeted this concerning Smartmatic:

SmartMatic is not going to sue anybody. Truth is a defense. Plus, discovery in a defamation case would be a bonanza. Its emails, other documents, & deposition testimony would be devastating to company.​

I'm not aware that any of these news outlets has issued a retraction.

 

[Hans Blaster]

Wait, how did you find out about "Business Insider" that's a legitimate publication?

 

[NightHawkeye]

Wait, how did you find out about "Business Insider" that's a legitimate publication?

I thought you might appreciate them.

NOTE: I used to link to Business Insider all the time here. They used to do actual investigative journalism.

 

[SimplyMe]

Wait, how did you find out about "Business Insider" that's a legitimate publication?

True, but then he countered the actual Business Insider news with Lin Wood, to ensure he got the conspiracy angle in the thread.

 

[cow451]

Link to the actual letter:
DocumentCloud

 

[essentialsaltes]

From the "We'll soon see who does what ... and when",

Fox News. Three minutes of facts. Friday night.

After voting technology company Smartmatic sent Fox News a blistering legal threat that accused the network of participating in a "disinformation campaign" against it, the network has started airing a remarkable news package debunking claims its hosts and guests have propagated.

The package aired for the first time Friday night on Lou Dobbs' show. Fox News said the same package would air Saturday night on Jeanine Pirro's program as well as Sunday morning on Maria Bartiromo's show. All three hosts, who use their platforms to air pro-Trump propaganda, are close with the President.

The stunning news package featured an interview with voting technology expert Eddie Perez, who poured cold water on a series of conspiracy theories that have been amplified and promoted on the shows of Dobbs, Pirro, and Bartiromo.

 

[wing2000]

The package aired for the first time Friday night on Lou Dobbs' show. Fox News said the same package would air Saturday night on Jeanine Pirro's program as well as Sunday morning on Maria Bartiromo's show. All three hosts, who use their platforms to air pro-Trump propaganda, are close with the President.

+
(Smartmatic had demanded that the corrections “must be published on multiple occasions” and must be made during prime-time shows, so as to “match the attention and audience targeted with the original defamatory publications.”)

https://www.washingtonpost.com/media/2020/12/19/lou-dobbs-debunk-fact-check-smartmatic/

 

[wing2000]

...so let's see how this plays out on OAN and Newsmax...

 

[MIDutch]

Fox News. Three minutes of facts. Friday night.

After voting technology company Smartmatic sent Fox News a blistering legal threat that accused the network of participating in a "disinformation campaign" against it, the network has started airing a remarkable news package debunking claims its hosts and guests have propagated.

The package aired for the first time Friday night on Lou Dobbs' show. Fox News said the same package would air Saturday night on Jeanine Pirro's program as well as Sunday morning on Maria Bartiromo's show. All three hosts, who use their platforms to air pro-Trump propaganda, are close with the President.

The stunning news package featured an interview with voting technology expert Eddie Perez, who poured cold water on a series of conspiracy theories that have been amplified and promoted on the shows of Dobbs, Pirro, and Bartiromo.

Trying to reduce their legal exposure???

 

[MIDutch]

I thought you might appreciate them.

NOTE: I used to link to Business Insider all the time here. They used to do actual investigative journalism.

And then they started reporting truthful things about trump and exposed their deep state status.

bummer

 

[essentialsaltes]

...so let's see how this plays out on OAN and Newsmax...

paging OANN...

Newsmax 'clarifies' election conspiracy theories after legal threat from voting technology company

All throughout Monday, Newsmax viewers were treated to a short — yet remarkable — disclosure from the network's hosts:

*That Newsmax has no evidence Dominion or Smartmatic manipulated votes in the 2020 election;
*that Newsmax has no evidence Dominion or Smartmatic has any relationship with George Soros;
*that Newsmax has no evidence Dominion uses Smartmatic's software or vice versa;
*and that Smartmatic is a US company, not owned by the Venezuelan government.

Newsmax framed the disclosure as a "clarification," though the network maintained it itself had never peddled any conspiracy theories about the companies.

In addition to telling viewers that Newsmax had no evidence to support some of the wild conspiracies that have been floated on the network, it appears that hosts may have been cautioned to be more careful about the claims made on their programs. As Sebastian Gorka filled in for Greg Kelly's 7pm show, MyPillow CEO Michael Lindell started to talk about Dominion. Gorka immediately cut him off. "That's enough," Gorka interjected. "I don't want to discuss — Mike, Mike, we aren't going to get into the minutiae of the details."


OAN still feeding viewers fantasy
Fox and Newsmax might have run these packages acknowledging the reality of the situation, but it should be pointed out that One America News continues to feed its viewers pure fantasy about the election. A Monday report from one of its personalities, for instance, had a chyron that read, "'DOMINION-IZING' THE VOTE." Another chyron read, "THE ART OF THE STEAL."

 

[essentialsaltes]

I guess Fox's truth package wasn't good enough.

Voting technology company Smartmatic files $2.7 billion lawsuit against Fox News, Rudy Giuliani and Sidney Powell over 'disinformation campaign'

The lawsuit, filed in New York state court, accused Fox, Giuliani, Powell and hosts Lou Dobbs, Maria Bartiromo, and Jeanine Pirro of intentionally lying about Smartmatic in an effort to mislead the public into the false belief that the 2020 presidential election was stolen from former President Donald Trump.

"The Earth is round. Two plus two equals four. Joe Biden and Kamala Harris won the 2020 election for President and Vice President of the United States," the lawsuit said. "The election was not stolen, rigged, or fixed. These are facts. They are demonstrable and irrefutable."

"By being able to say Smartmatic was in Los Angeles County and nowhere else, I've been able to prove a lie of everything they essentially said with one salient fact," [Smartmatic lawyer] Connolly told CNN. "I've been doing this for a long time and that might be one of the easiest ways to demonstrate falsity that I've ever had."

Smartmatic used the fact-check segment in its lawsuit to argue that Fox could have easily articulated the facts and conveyed the truth to viewers before its legal notice.

 

[Larniavc]

From the "We'll soon see who does what ... and when", files: A voting technology company at the center of election conspiracy theories demanded a retraction from Fox News, accusing them of 'a concerted disinformation campaign'

Smartmatic, a voting technology company, sent cease and desist letters on Monday to Fox News, One America News, and Newsmax, demanding retractions.
...
In a letter to Fox News obtained by Insider, Smartmatic says Fox News hosts Lou Dobbs, Jesse Watters, and Maria Bartiromo have been instrumental in spreading the conspiracy theories, which first gained widespread currency with lawsuits from ex-Trump lawyer Sidney Powell.
​

Lin Wood tweeted this concerning Smartmatic:

SmartMatic is not going to sue anybody. Truth is a defense. Plus, discovery in a defamation case would be a bonanza. Its emails, other documents, & deposition testimony would be devastating to company.​

I'm not aware that any of these news outlets has issued a retraction.

Are you still doing this? You’ve seen that click with the guy from OAN where he spells out very clearly that his station does not claim that there was fraud?

It’s the one where the ex coke head and pillow fancier fellow shrieks and rants until the news guy walks of set in disgust.

ETA: I have just seen that I was replying to a very old post and you would have been unlikely to have seen a broadcast six weeks into the future.

 

[essentialsaltes]

Are you still doing this?

Sorry, I necromanced the thread with the update about the lawsuit.

 

[Larniavc]

Sorry, I necromanced the thread with the update about the lawsuit.

Yeah, I edited my last post. It was not fair of me to expect the OP to see further into the future than about a month

 

[essentialsaltes]

Voting technology company Smartmatic files $2.7 billion lawsuit against Fox News, Rudy Giuliani and Sidney Powell over 'disinformation campaign'

The lawsuit, filed in New York state court, accused Fox, Giuliani, Powell and hosts Lou Dobbs, Maria Bartiromo, and Jeanine Pirro of intentionally lying about Smartmatic

Fox Business has yanked Lou Dobbs off the air.

Fox Business suddenly cancels 'Lou Dobbs Tonight,' its highest-rated show

The pro-Trump propaganda bent helped make the daily airing of "Lou Dobbs Tonight" at 5 p.m. ET (it also re-aired at 7 p.m.) the network's most-watched program -- so a sudden cancellation would ordinarily make no sense at all.
But Fox is under enormous legal pressure from a pair of voting technology companies, Smartmatic and Dominion, because Dobbs and other hosts made false claims about the companies while perpetuating Trump's lies about election fraud.
Smartmatic filed a $2.7 billion lawsuit against Fox on Thursday. The lawsuit also named Dobbs and two other Fox hosts as defendants.

 

[Yttrium]

Fox Business has yanked Lou Dobbs off the air.

Fox Business suddenly cancels 'Lou Dobbs Tonight,' its highest-rated show

The pro-Trump propaganda bent helped make the daily airing of "Lou Dobbs Tonight" at 5 p.m. ET (it also re-aired at 7 p.m.) the network's most-watched program -- so a sudden cancellation would ordinarily make no sense at all.
But Fox is under enormous legal pressure from a pair of voting technology companies, Smartmatic and Dominion, because Dobbs and other hosts made false claims about the companies while perpetuating Trump's lies about election fraud.
Smartmatic filed a $2.7 billion lawsuit against Fox on Thursday. The lawsuit also named Dobbs and two other Fox hosts as defendants.

Is Lou's show worth a couple billion dollars to Fox? Heh heh. Yeah, I don't think so. Don't let the door hit you on the way out, Lou.

What is it about Trump that causes his followers to completely forget about the legal implications of libel, defamation and slander? Whatever it is, I'm going to greatly enjoy the resulting cavalcade of civil court cases.

 

[lasthero]

Man, NHE is awful quiet in this topic...

 

[essentialsaltes]

Man, NHE is awful quiet in this topic...

I assume he's on hiatus. Last post 1/28.

 

[ToddNotTodd]

I assume he's on hiatus. Last post 1/28.

From the “sore loser” department...