Delaware Judge Rules Jury Must Decide Whether Fox News Acted With Actual Malice in False Election Allegations Case

A Delaware judge has ruled that a jury must decide whether Fox News acted with actual malice when it aired false allegations about the 2020 presidential election. The defamation case was brought against the conservative network by Dominion Voting Systems, a voting machine company.

Superior Court Judge Eric Davis ruled that neither Fox nor Dominion had presented a convincing argument to prevail on whether Fox acted with malice without the case going to trial. He also ruled that the statements Dominion had challenged constitute defamation “per se” under New York law, meaning Dominion did not have to prove damages to establish liability by Fox.

The case is set to go to trial and emails and text messages from Fox News executives and on-air personalities will become public as part of the lawsuit. The lawsuit was filed in January by Dominion, which accused Fox of making false claims about the company’s role in the 2020 election.

Fox News has denied any wrongdoing and has argued that its coverage of the election was protected by the First Amendment. The network has also argued that its coverage of the election was based on “uncontested facts” and that it did not act with actual malice.

The case is set to go to trial and could have far-reaching implications for the media industry. It will be the first time a major news network has been put on trial for its coverage of an election. The outcome of the trial could set a precedent for how news networks cover future elections.