Smartmatic settles defamation lawsuits with conservative networks

Smartmatic has settled a defamation lawsuit with One America News Network (OAN) over false claims about the 2020 election, with details of the settlement remaining confidential. The lawsuit, filed in 2021, accused OAN of spreading disinformation about Smartmatic's involvement in the election. The settlement comes after OAN apparently obtained a spreadsheet with Smartmatic employees' passwords, and the network's internal documents will not become public as a result. This is part of a series of defamation cases seeking to hold media outlets accountable for spreading false information about the 2020 election, with Smartmatic still having a pending $2.7bn defamation lawsuit against Fox. Legal scholars are closely monitoring these cases to gauge the effectiveness of defamation law in combating misinformation.