Dominion Voting Systems may sue other media outlets and Donald Trump, after hitting Fox with $1.6bn suit

Company began suing right-wing figures in January

(AFP via Getty Images)

The list of right-wing media personalities on the receiving end of a massive defamation lawsuit filed by Dominion Voting Systems may get a little bit longer in coming weeks, and could include former President Donald Trump.

The company, which became the centre of conservative conspiracy theories alleging massive voter fraud cost Mr Trump the election, told Axios that it has not ruled out suing individual Fox News employees or Mr Trump.

The conspiracy theories alleged that Dominion's voting machines flipped votes that were meant for Mr Trump to Mr Biden. In a particularly deranged version of the conspiracy, theorists claimed that long-dead dictator Hugo Chavez developed the method and allege some tenuous tie between the company and Venezuela.

The theory is entirely fabricated.

Last week, Dominion sued Fox News for giving uncritical airtime to the election fraud pushers, including people like MyPillow CEO Mike Lindell.

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The company claims Fox News used the delusional theory as a means to boost its ratings.

Fox News has defended itself, saying it was "proud" of its coverage in 2020 and that it will "vigorously defend against this baseless lawsuit in court".

While the network's official statement may call the lawsuit baseless, the actions of the network – as well as other right-wing media networks – suggest they are taking the threat seriously.

In January, Dominion filed a $1.3bn lawsuit against the "Kraken" attorney, Sidney Powell. Ms Powell pushed numerous conspiracies, including those about Dominion. Since then, right-wing media outlets like OANN, Newsmax and Fox News have been reluctant to allow guests to openly speak about Dominion-centric voter fraud conspiracies.

In February, a Newsmax anchor walked off his show after his guest, Mr Lindell, continued to bring up Dominion-centric election fraud conspiracies, despite being asked not to.

"We at Newsmax have not been able to verify any of those kinds of allegations," The anchor, Bob Sellers, said. "We just want to let people know that there's nothing substantive that we have seen. And let me read you something."

Mr Sellers then went on to read an official statement, seemingly prepared in advance for anytime a Newsmax guest repeats a Dominion conspiracy theory.

"The election results in every state were certified," he said."Newsmax accepts the results as legal and final. The courts have also supported that view."

Fox News is also facing a lawsuit from Smartmatic, a voting technology company that conspiracy theorists claimed was also flipping votes.

A lawsuit filed by that company is aimed at Fox News hosts Lou Dobbs, Maria Bartiromo, and Jeanine Pirro.

In February, Fox News moved to have the lawsuit dismissed. Fox News’ motion claimed the lawsuit seeks to “stifle debate and chill vital First Amendment activities,” calling its allegations “meritless.”

All three Fox News personalities targeted by the lawsuits have also filed motions to have the case dismissed.