Fox News struck a $787.5 million settlement with Dominion Voting Systems on Wednesday, to avert what could have been one of the most explosive defamation trials of recent times. The American broadcaster also admitted to airing false claims during the 2020 US election.
The lawsuit was filed two years ago, after the channel had amplified Donald Trump’s claims that Dominion’s voting machines were vulnerable to hacking and that they were rigged in favour of presidential candidate Joe Biden in the 2020 election. The voting tech company had subsequently sued Fox News for damages of $1.6 billion, nearly double the amount of the settlement. Its plans to bring out incriminating evidence in public steered Fox to finalize the pay-up deal at the zero hour.
