February 21, 2026
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Dominion and Fox News reach last-minute settlement

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Rupert Murdoch’s Fox Information and Dominion Voting have reached a last-minute settlement simply as a major defamation trial was about to begin.

On the opening day of the listening to on Wednesday morning (AEDT), the choose introduced the “events have resolved their case”.

“You might be free to go”, Delaware Superior Courtroom Decide Eric Davis informed assembled jurors within the Delaware courtroom.

Outdoors the court docket, Dominion Voting confirmed a settlement of $US787.5 million ($1.17 billion).

Dominion CEO John Poulos informed the media it was a “historic settlement”, the BBC experiences.

Mr Poulos stated Fox was “admitting to telling lies, inflicting huge harm to my firm”.

“Fox now understands the results of spreading lies”, he stated.

Dominion Voting was looking for $US1.6 billion ($2.Four billion) in its defamation lawsuit in opposition to Fox Corp and Fox Information.

At concern was whether or not Fox was accountable for airing the false claims that Dominion’s ballot-counting machines had been used to control the 2020 US election in favor of Joe Biden over then-president Donald Trump.

Dominion argued that these on-air claims prompted the corporate “huge and irreparable financial hurt.”

The 12-person jury had been chosen and the case was poised to kick off with opening statements on Wednesday morning (AEDT).

The settlement averts a trial that will have put one of many world’s prime media firms within the crosshairs over its protection of vote-rigging claims within the 2020 US election.

Fox’s best-known figures would have been known as to the witness stand and subjected to probably withering questioning.

These included chairman Rupert Murdoch, Fox CEO Suzanne Scott and on-air hosts together with Tucker Carlson, Sean Hannity and Jeanine Pirro.

The choice to settle additionally adopted a ruling by the choose that Fox couldn’t invoke free speech protections below the US structure in its protection.

Fox Information is the most-watched US cable information community, in line with Nielsen.

The first query for jurors was to be whether or not Fox knowingly unfold false data or recklessly disregarded the reality, the usual of “precise malice” that Dominion should present to prevail in a defamation case.

Primarily based on a slew of inside communications, Dominion alleged that Fox employees, from newsroom workers all the way in which as much as Murdoch, knew the statements had been false however continued to air them out of concern of dropping viewers to media opponents on the correct.

Including to the authorized dangers for Fox, one other US voting expertise firm, Smartmatic, is pursuing its personal defamation lawsuit looking for $US2.7 billion ($4.01 billion) in damages in a New York state court docket.

Fox Corp reported almost $US14 billion ($20.eight billion) in annual income final yr.



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