Some on-air claims about Dominion Voting Systems were false, Fox News acknowledges in statement after deal is announced

Fox News Acknowledges False Claims About Dominion Voting Systems After Landmark Settlement

By Jessica Ali, Breaking News Anchor, Global1.news April 18, 2023 | 3:15 PM EDT

In a stunning turn of events that capped a two-year legal saga, Fox News has officially acknowledged that several on-air claims made by its hosts and guests about Dominion Voting Systems in the aftermath of the 2020 U.S. presidential election were false. The admission came in a carefully worded statement released just minutes after the network settled a blockbuster defamation lawsuit brought by Dominion, agreeing to pay a staggering $787.5 million to avoid a trial that threatened to expose the inner workings of America’s most-watched cable news channel.

The settlement, announced Tuesday afternoon in a Delaware courtroom, marks the largest publicly known defamation payout in U.S. history and delivers a resounding rebuke to the baseless conspiracy theories that swirled around Dominion’s voting machines. For weeks, Fox anchors and their guests had promoted unfounded allegations that the company’s equipment was rigged to flip votes from Donald Trump to Joe Biden, that Dominion was tied to corrupt Venezuelan software, and that its machines were susceptible to mass manipulation. Now, Fox News is on the record stating that those claims were not true.

“We acknowledge the Court’s rulings finding certain claims about Dominion to be false,” said a Fox News spokesperson in a terse press release. “This settlement reflects Fox’s continued commitment to the highest journalistic standards. We are hopeful that our decision to resolve this dispute with Dominion amicably, instead of the acrimony of a divisive trial, allows the country to move forward from these issues.”

The statement, while stopping short of an on-air apology, is a remarkable concession from a network that rarely backs down. During the discovery process, reams of internal communications—texts, emails, and deposition testimony—were made public, revealing that top Fox executives and star hosts privately scoffed at the election fraud theories even as they gave them a platform. Tucker Carlson, for instance, called the claims from one Trump attorney “absurd” and “insane,” while Sean Hannity privately worried about “losing our audience” to far-right competitors if they didn’t indulge the narrative. Yet night after night, their shows amplified the very falsehoods they privately derided.

Dominion had originally sought $1.6 billion in damages, arguing that Fox’s deliberate dissemination of lies wrecked its reputation and drove away customers. The settlement amount—roughly half that sum—is nonetheless a financial earthquake. It surpasses the $177 million Disney paid in a wrongful death suit related to a gator attack in 2022, and dwarfs virtually any media defamation payout in modern times. For context, Fox Corp.’s quarterly net income was about $313 million in the last reported period, meaning the settlement will consume a significant chunk of its earnings but is unlikely to threaten the company’s overall financial health.

The trial, which had been slated to begin with jury selection on Monday, was delayed by a day as negotiations intensified. Courtroom observers noted that when the settlement was announced, Delaware Superior Court Judge Eric Davis praised both sides for reaching a resolution and dismissed the jury pool, many of whom had been waiting for hours. The deal specifically covers claims against Fox News Network and parent Fox Corp., but does not include individual hosts like Carlson, Hannity, or Maria Bartiromo, who were also named in the lawsuit. While the network publicly acknowledged the falsehoods, it did not require those personalities to issue personal statements or apologies.

Dominion CEO John Poulos, speaking outside the courthouse, declared the settlement a decisive victory. “Fox has admitted to telling lies about Dominion that caused enormous damage to my company, our employees, and the election process,” he said. “Truth matters. Lies have consequences. Today’s settlement of $787,500,000 represents acknowledgment and accountability. We are grateful for the judicial system and the opportunity to set the record straight.”

Legal experts say the settlement is a watershed moment for media accountability, particularly given the high bar for defamation in the U.S. For a public figure or company to win, they must show “actual malice”—that the defendant knowingly published false information or acted with reckless disregard for the truth. Dominion’s trove of internal Fox communications provided a rare, damning glimpse into that state of mind. The case, had it gone to a jury, might have required Fox to own up to those misrepresentations in open court under oath from its biggest stars. The settlement avoids that spectacle, but the acknowledgment itself is a black eye that will linger.

The now-retracted false claims included: that Dominion was founded in Venezuela to rig elections for Hugo Chavez; that its machines used an algorithm to shift votes; that its software was manipulated by foreign actors in real time during the 2020 election; and that Dominion employees had ties to antifa or were caught destroying evidence. None of these was true, as confirmed by multiple audits, recounts, and court rulings.

Despite the payout, Fox News did not issue a full-throated apology, and its statement avoided using the word “lie.” Instead, it referred to “certain claims” found false by the court. This nuance has drawn criticism from media watchdogs and some legal observers who argue that true accountability would require an explicit on-air correction commensurate with the original falsehoods. However, in the hyper-partisan media landscape, even a grudging acknowledgment is historic. The network still faces another massive defamation suit from voting machine company Smartmatic, which seeks $2.7 billion in damages and is unlikely to settle quietly.

As the dust settles, questions remain about whether this settlement will change the editorial direction of Fox News. In the immediate aftermath, primetime programming continued largely unchanged, with hosts reframing the outcome as a business decision to avoid a lengthy court fight rather than an admission of wrongdoing. Yet the financial sting and the public record of internal deceit may give other networks pause before airing unverified conspiracy theories.

For Dominion, the victory restores some of its tarnished name and provides a financial cushion to rebuild. The company still provides election systems in numerous U.S. jurisdictions and abroad, and its executives hope the public will now understand that the wild accusations were baseless. The case also serves as a cautionary tale for the media in an era of deep political polarization: even well-funded news organizations can be held to account when they knowingly traffic in falsehoods.

This is a developing story. Stay with Global1.news for continued coverage and expert analysis.

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Jessica Ali is the breaking news anchor for Global1.news, covering major national and international stories with a focus on media, politics, and accountability.