Smartmatic Scandal in the Philippines: A Lifeline for Fox News and Right-Wing Media Facing Defamation Lawsuits
An alleged bribery scheme in the Philippines has emerged as a potential defense for Fox News, Newsmax, and OAN, right-wing media outlets that are currently embroiled in defamation lawsuits from the voting technology company Smartmatic. These media organizations are trying to obtain new evidence related to potential wrongdoing by Smartmatic in the Philippines and other countries where the company conducts business.
The scandal came to light last year when the former election commissioner of the Philippines, Andres Bautista, was charged with money laundering by the U.S. Department of Justice. Since then, Fox News, Newsmax, and OAN have seized upon these allegations to bolster their defenses against the defamation lawsuits.
New court filings reveal that OAN, a fringe pro-Trump network, has secured permission from a federal judge to request documents from the Philippines government and nine other countries where Smartmatic operates. Meanwhile, Newsmax is pursuing materials from the U.S. Department of Justice regarding the bribery allegations.
Moreover, the Philippines’ national election commission recently disqualified Smartmatic from participating in future elections due to the scandalous allegations in the U.S. criminal case. The company has denied any wrongdoing and is appealing the decision.
Smartmatic is seeking billions of dollars in damages from the right-wing networks for their promotion of false claims that Smartmatic machines rigged the 2020 election against Donald Trump. The networks deny any wrongdoing.
The criminal case against Bautista revolves around alleged bribes paid by Smartmatic to secure lucrative voting-machine contracts. Both Smartmatic and Bautista deny any illegal behavior. The allegations made by U.S. prosecutors in court filings do not pertain to vote-flipping or the rigging of election results.
Although Smartmatic was only used in one California county during the 2020 election, right-wing media outlets gave significant airtime to the false claim that the company had rigged the nationwide results. Many of these lies referenced Smartmatic’s ties to Venezuela, where it operated for 15 years before cutting ties with the government following allegations of vote tampering.
As they fight these defamation lawsuits, Fox News and other media outlets have argued that Smartmatic’s reputation was already damaged due to these foreign scandals and alleged overseas improprieties, rather than their false claims about the 2020 election. If they lose these cases at trial, these arguments could significantly reduce the damages payout by undercutting Smartmatic’s calculations about its losses.
Fox News and other media outlets have tried to shift the blame onto former President Trump for peddling lies about Smartmatic. However, Smartmatic insists that these phantom losses are not due to coverage on Fox News but rather the nationwide (indeed, global) allegations against it.
OAN and Newsmax, two far-right cable outlets with smaller audiences than Fox, are also trying to capitalize on the allegations as a key defense against the lawsuits. The trials for both cases have been delayed due to their efforts to obtain documents from foreign countries.
OAN’s lawyers wrote in September that Smartmatic’s conduct abroad and its negative impact on the company’s reputation prior to any broadcast by OAN is directly relevant to this suit. They argued that these foreign matters should be considered in the context of the defamation allegations.
Smartmatic has pushed back on the allegations in the Philippines, stating that they were not given an opportunity to defend themselves against the bribery claims. The company expressed confidence that if they had been allowed to present countervailing evidence, the unfair disqualification would not have occurred. They also emphasized that investigations or indictments do not automatically amount to guilt and that they are expected to abide by the constitutional presumption of innocence.
