Fox News paid Dominion Voting Systems $787.5 million in April 2023 to settle a defamation lawsuit over false claims the network aired about Dominion’s voting machines after the 2020 presidential election. The Fox Dominion settlement, reached the day jury selection was set to begin, is one of the largest defamation payouts in American history. It came after the trial judge had already ruled that the statements Fox broadcast about Dominion were false as a matter of law, leaving only the question of whether Fox knew they were false when it aired them.1AP News. Fox, Dominion Reach $787.5M Settlement Over False Election Claims
What Dominion Sued Over
Dominion filed suit against Fox News Network, LLC on March 26, 2021, in Delaware Superior Court, seeking $1.6 billion. A second action against parent company Fox Corporation followed that November, and the cases were consolidated before Judge Eric M. Davis.2Justia. US Dominion Inc. v. Fox News Network LLC, N21C-03-257 EMD
The complaint accused Fox hosts, executives, and guests of repeatedly airing baseless claims that Dominion’s machines switched votes from Donald Trump to Joe Biden. Judge Davis grouped the false statements into four categories the court referred to as the fraud lie, the algorithm lie, the Venezuela lie, and the kickback lie. Fox personalities who gave the claims a platform included Lou Dobbs, Maria Bartiromo, Jeanine Pirro, Sean Hannity, and Tucker Carlson, often with Trump allies Sidney Powell and Rudy Giuliani appearing as guests.3NPR. Fox News Settles Blockbuster Defamation Lawsuit With Dominion Voting Systems
What Internal Fox Messages Showed
Discovery produced texts, emails, and testimony showing that Fox’s own hosts and executives privately rejected the claims their network was broadcasting. That evidence went to the heart of the “actual malice” standard a defamation plaintiff must meet against a media defendant, which requires proof the publisher knew the statement was false or acted with reckless disregard for the truth.
Tucker Carlson called the allegations “ludicrous” and “totally off the rails,” wrote in a November 2020 text that “Sidney Powell is lying,” and told Powell that if she lacked conclusive evidence, repeating the claims was “a cruel and reckless thing.” Sean Hannity said under oath he “did not believe it for one second” and called the conspiracy’s promoters “F’ing lunatics.” Laura Ingraham texted Carlson and Hannity that “Sidney Powell is a bit nuts.”4The New York Times. Redacted Documents in Dominion Fox News Case
Fox’s internal research team, the “Brain Room,” investigated the Dominion claims ten days after the election and concluded they were false. David Clark, the network’s senior vice president for weekend news and programming, testified that once the Brain Room debunked the charges, “they never should have been aired.”5NBC News. Dominion Releases Previously Redacted Slides From Fox News Lawsuit
Rupert Murdoch described the fraud claims as “really crazy stuff” in November 2020 and, in a January 2021 email to Fox News CEO Suzanne Scott, called Trump’s stolen-election insistence “a huge disservice to the country. Pretty much a crime.” Scott herself, in a December 2020 email, objected to an anchor’s on-air fact-check of Trump’s claims: “This has to stop now… The audience is furious and we are just feeding them material. Bad for business.”5NBC News. Dominion Releases Previously Redacted Slides From Fox News Lawsuit
The Judge’s Pre-Trial Ruling on Falsity
On March 31, 2023, Judge Davis denied Fox’s motions for summary judgment and granted Dominion’s in part. He ruled as a matter of law that the statements Fox broadcast about Dominion were false, writing that the evidence made it “CRYSTAL clear that none of the Statements relating to Dominion about the 2020 election are true.”6Delaware Superior Court. US Dominion Inc. v. Fox News Network LLC, Memorandum Opinion
That ruling reshaped the trial. Falsity was no longer in dispute; the jury would decide only whether Fox acted with actual malice, and it would do so after seeing the internal messages already made public. Just over two weeks later, the parties settled.
Terms of the Settlement
The $787.5 million figure was announced on April 18, 2023, moments before opening statements were to begin. It was roughly half the $1.6 billion Dominion had originally sought.7The New York Times. Fox News-Dominion Trial Settlement
Fox’s public statement acknowledged “the Court’s rulings finding certain claims about Dominion to be false” and cited the network’s “continued commitment to the highest journalistic standards.”8Fox News Press. Fox News and Dominion Voting Systems Reach Settlement The agreement did not require Fox to broadcast a correction, have its hosts address the false claims on air, or formally admit wrongdoing.9Forbes. Fox News Won’t Have to Apologize for Airing Dominion Lies in $787.5 Million Settlement
That omission drew criticism, including from journalism ethicists who noted that Newsmax and One America News Network had issued public admissions after being sued over similar claims. Dominion’s lead attorney, Stephen Shackelford, defended the deal by saying “money is accountability,” and CEO John Poulos said Fox had “admitted to telling lies about Dominion that caused enormous damage.” Dominion equity owner Hootan Yaghoobzadeh said the financial result was “much more profound than some disingenuous apology or forced statement that would not have any credibility.”9Forbes. Fox News Won’t Have to Apologize for Airing Dominion Lies in $787.5 Million Settlement10The Conversation. Dominion Threw Away Its Shot by Not Requiring a Correction and Apology From Fox News
What It Cost Fox Financially
Fox Corporation could absorb the payment without selling assets. At the time of the settlement it held more than $4 billion in cash reserves and had reported net income of $1.23 billion for the preceding fiscal year.11BBC News. Fox News Dominion Settlement
Wall Street’s reaction was small. Bank of America Securities had estimated every $500 million in damages would cost Fox shareholders about $1.00 per share, implying roughly a $1.58 hit from the settlement, but Fox stock closed just 16 cents lower the day of the announcement. Analysts flagged a longer-term risk: the settlement could weaken Fox’s leverage in upcoming carriage fee negotiations with cable providers.12NBC News. Fox News Dominion Defamation Settlement Financial Impact
The Shareholder Suit Still in Play
The settlement ended Dominion’s case against Fox, but it opened another. Fox Corporation shareholders filed derivative lawsuits seeking to shift the $787.5 million loss onto the directors and officers they blamed for it. The consolidated case, In re Fox Corporation Derivative Litigation, was assigned to Vice Chancellor Travis Laster in the Delaware Court of Chancery.13Justia. In Re Fox Corporation Derivative Litigation, C.A. No. 2023-0418-JTL
The named defendants include Rupert Murdoch, Lachlan Murdoch, Suzanne Scott, Paul Ryan, and other board members. The shareholders allege the board knowingly allowed the network to air false content to retain viewers, a decision they describe as choosing to profit by violating the law. On December 27, 2024, Vice Chancellor Laster denied the defendants’ motion to dismiss, finding that Rupert Murdoch’s control of 43.4% of Fox’s Class B voting shares through the Murdoch Family Trust compromised board independence and that at least three directors had ties to Murdoch preventing impartial evaluation of the suit. The case is ongoing.14Delaware Litigation. Chancery Court Lets Suit Over Fox Stolen Election Stories Proceed Due to CEO’s Influence
Other Cases Fox and Dominion Are Not Done With
The Fox settlement resolved only Dominion’s claims against Fox. A separate $2.7 billion defamation suit filed by Smartmatic USA against Fox Corporation in New York in February 2021 is still active; it names Bartiromo, Pirro, the late Lou Dobbs, Giuliani, and Powell as defendants. Fox’s attempt to pause the case after federal prosecutors indicted Smartmatic and several executives on Foreign Corrupt Practices Act charges in October 2025 was denied by Justice David B. Cohen, who ruled the criminal charges were unrelated to Fox’s 2020 election coverage.15Courthouse News. Fox Loses Bid to Pause Smartmatic Defamation Case in Wake of Charges Against Voting Machine Company
Dominion also sued Rudy Giuliani, Sidney Powell, and Mike Lindell’s MyPillow for over $1.3 billion each in Washington, D.C. federal court, and Newsmax for $1.6 billion in Delaware. The Newsmax case settled in August 2025 for $67 million, payable in three installments through January 2027, again without an apology or retraction.16Newsmax Investor Relations. Newsmax Announces Settlement With Dominion Voting Systems17Politico. Newsmax Dominion Voting Defamation Settlement The suits against Giuliani, Powell, and Lindell were still working through the courts as of mid-2026.18AP News. Fact Check Dominion Lawsuits Giuliani Powell