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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsThe 'Red Slime' Lawsuit That Could Sink Right-Wing Media
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Ben Collins
@oneunderscore__
This is a big deal.
Last week, a lawyer for Antonio Mugica sent scathing letters to Fox, Newsmax and OAN demanding that they immediately, forcefully clear his companys name.
The Red Slime Lawsuit That Could Sink Right-Wing Media
Voting machine companies threaten highly dangerous cases against Fox, Newsmax and OAN, says Floyd Abrams.
nytimes.com
7:51 PM · Dec 20, 2020
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/12/20/business/media/smartmatic-lawsuit-fox-news-newsmax-oan.html
Antonio Mugica was in Boca Raton when an American presidential election really melted down in 2000, and he watched with shocked fascination as local government officials argued over hanging chads and butterfly ballots.
It was so bad, so incompetent, that Mr. Mugica, a young Venezuelan software engineer, decided to shift the focus of his digital security company, Smartmatic, which had been working for banks. It would offer its services to what would obviously be a growth industry: electronic voting machines. He began building a global company that ultimately provided voting machinery and software for elections from Brazil to Belgium and his native Venezuela. He even acquired an American company, then called Sequoia.
Last month, Mr. Mugica initially took it in stride when his companys name started popping up in grief-addled Trump supporters wild conspiracy theories about the election.
Of course I was surprised, but at the same time, it was pretty clear that these people were trying to discredit the election and they were throwing out 25 conspiracy theories in parallel, he told me in an interview last week from Barbados, where his company has an office. I thought it was so absurd that it was not going to have legs.
But by Nov. 14, he knew he had a problem. Thats when Rudy Giuliani, serving as the presidents lawyer, suggested that one voting company, Dominion Voting Systems, had a sinister connection to vote counts in Michigan, Arizona and Georgia and other states. Mr. Giuliani declared on Twitter that the company was a front for SMARTMATIC, who was really doing the computing. Look up SMARTMATIC and tweet me what you think?
*snip*
sfdennis1
(31 posts)I hope the suit moves forward, I hope they are seeking huge $$ in damages and I hope there are DOZENS more lawsuits. Every time one of the Reich wing "media" slanders, lies, etc they NEED to be sued and have their false claims invalidated. We are in a full-blown CRISIS of propaganda, misinformation, lies and omitions, false narratives, anti-science bias, and conspiracy theories threatening the very fabric of our societal cohesion. The very "nature of what's real" is under attack, and we cannot and will not heal as a society when we share 2 (or more) "realities"..."My lies are just as valid as your facts" CANNOT continue to stand unchallenged.
farmbo
(3,122 posts)... but Corporations are People so media lies and libels will have drastic consequences to their corporate bottom lines. That means seven or eight figure compensatory damage judgments, then add on punitive damages.
Added bonus: these are Civil not criminal cases, so in most jurisdictions they wont need a unanimous jury verdict, thus eliminating the hidden Trumpie threat in criminal juries.
SunSeeker
(51,698 posts)MustLoveBeagles
(11,634 posts)ancianita
(36,133 posts)I never saw proof, so I thought they were nuts and looking for a fall guy.
Mutual disclosure might bring up all kinds of ugly, or nothing.
Warpy
(111,339 posts)I'm not surprised OAN is echoing the worst of the lies, they're pretty much a subsidiary of RT and destabilizing democracy worldwide would seem to be a Putin dream. Pox and Newsmax have a bit more to lose in this one.
I would like to see the lot of them discredited, being forced to announce all day every day for months that they lied about the election.
I hope Mr. Mugica accepts nothing less.
Cha
(297,655 posts)NoMoreRepugs
(9,457 posts)Blue Owl
(50,498 posts)Sue the goddamned motherfucking FUCK outta those fucking fucks!