“We have no choice,” Antonio Mugica, the CEO and founder of Smartmatic, told CNN Business about the company’s decision to file the lawsuit. “The disinformation campaign launched against us is a devastating one. For us this is existential, and we need to take action.”
The lawsuit, filed in the New York District Court, accused Fox, Giuliani, Powell and hosts Lou Dobbs, Maria Bartiromo and Jeanine Pirro of deliberately lying about Smartmatic in an attempt to deceive the public into the false belief that the 2020 presidential election had been stolen from former President Donald Trump.
“They needed a bad guy,” the lawsuit said. They needed someone they could blame. They needed someone they could make others hate. A story of good versus evil, the type that would evoke an angry mob, only works if the narrator gives the audience someone who does it. evil personifies. “
“Without any real villain, defendants invented one,” the lawsuit added. “The defendants have decided to make Smartmatic the villain of their story.”
In a statement on behalf of the network and the named hosts issued after the lawsuit was filed, a Fox News spokesperson said, “FOX News Media is committed to providing the full context of each story with in-depth reporting and clear opinion. on our election coverage in 2020 and will vigorously defend this creditable lawsuit in court. ”
CNN Business is contacting representatives for Giuliani and Powell for comment.
The baseless conspiracy theories about Smartmatic, mimicking those pushed against Dominion, falsely suggested that the company’s technology was being used across the country and allowed the November vote to be rigged against Trump.
Some of the conspiracy theory tensions pushed on Fox were meant to tie the company to late Venezuelan leader Hugo Chávez. Other types suggested that Dominion was using Smartmatic’s voting software in swing states and that the votes were exported out of the country for tabulation; both allegations were false and Smarmatic pointed out in his lawsuit that it does not work with Dominion as the two companies are competitors.
“It took us completely by surprise,” Mugica told CNN Business of the conspiracy theories, noting during the interview that his company has done business in multiple continents and dozens of countries. “We’ve never seen anything like it in developed markets. We’ve never seen anything like it in Europe. We’ve never seen anything like it in the US.”
During the nearly 300-page lawsuit, Smartmatic surgically dismantled the theories against it.
“The Earth is round. Two plus two equals four. Joe Biden and Kamala Harris won the 2020 elections for president and vice president of the United States,” the lawsuit said. “The elections have not been stolen, faked or repaired. These are facts. They are verifiable and undeniable.”
“By being able to say that Smartmatic was in Los Angeles County and nowhere else, I was able to prove a lie to everything they essentially said with one striking fact,” Connolly told CNN. “I’ve been doing this for a long time and it may be one of the easiest ways to prove falsehood I’ve ever had.”
Smartmatic said in the lawsuit that the conspiracy theories had undermined its business relationships around the world, sparked a wave of threats against staff, and contributed to a $ 767.4 million drop in parent company’s projected profits over the next five year.
In addition, the lawsuit said, Smartmatic will have to spend $ 350,000 annually for the next two years in increased security costs to protect the physical safety of its employees and nearly $ 5 million in fees over the next five years to protect the company from a “ rapid increase’. “in cyber attacks.
Smartmatic’s parent company estimated that the “disinformation devised and circulated by the defendants” had cost it at least $ 2.7 billion in total damages, of which $ 2.4 billion is specific to Smartmatic, the lawsuit said.
Smartmatic used the fact-check segment in his lawsuit to argue that Fox could have easily articulated the facts and convey the truth to viewers before the legal notice.
“Mr. Perez was always available to the Fox defendants,” the lawsuit said. “Fox’s defendants could have put Mr. Perez on the air anytime before December 18.”
Smartmatic’s lawsuit also pointed to a November segment by Fox News presenter Tucker Carlson telling viewers that Powell had not provided him with any evidence to support her election plot. In the lawsuit, Carlson was called a “ respected figure ” within the network and it was concluded that if Powell had provided any evidence to Fox to support her wild allegations, it would have been shared with him.
The lawsuit alleged that Fox and his hosts “were motivated in part by a desire for reviews, to cater to individuals and companies who support President Trump, and to avoid losing viewership to competing media organizations such as OAN and Newsmax.”
Fox faced fierce backlash for being the first network to call the state of Arizona for current President Joe Biden. The controversial call from the network’s decision desk, which turned out to be correct days later, infuriated Trump and his supporters. Many of those supporters flocked to Newsmax and OAN, smaller right-wing channels that for weeks refused to acknowledge Biden’s legal victory.
Mugica told CNN Business that when he first saw a conspiracy theory about Smartmatic, he thought nothing of it and dismissed it as absurd.
“I thought it was crazy, but it’s so crazy it won’t have any legs at all,” he said. “And then it became very clear that it wasn’t a single mention. They repeated the message and repeated the message. It was an ongoing campaign.”
Mugica said “95%” of his time has been spent trying to reduce inaccurate information about his company.
“All we do every day is survive,” he said.
When asked directly if there is a real chance that Smartmatic will not be able to withstand the storm it is facing, Mugica replied, “Yes, absolutely. It’s a real possibility.”
Connolly said Smartmatic has not ruled out the possibility of filing additional lawsuits against other entities, such as OAN and Newsmax. Asked if the company will file a lawsuit against Trump, Connolly said it is considering the possibility but admitted it would be difficult.
“We are clearly investigating all possible lawsuits that can be brought. We are not doing this lightly,” he said. “I think it is very difficult, if not impossible, to file a lawsuit against a president based on statements made by a president while wearing the president’s hat.”
Connolly, who estimated the lawsuit will take between two and five years to resolve, said he hoped Smartmatic’s actions could clean up the polluted information environment in the US.
“I think this is the kind of case that should be brought now to try to keep us away from disinformation,” Connolly said. “Disinformation is now at hand. Cases like this can be a bull’s eye that courts can deliver, saying, ‘Let’s get back to reality. Let’s get back to actual reporting.” ”