Summary

  • The closely watched lawsuit between Dominion Voting and Fox News has ended abruptly with a $787.5m settlement

  • "Lies have consequences," Dominion's lawyers say. Fox says it is pleased to end the dispute and acknowledges certain claims were false

  • Dominion Voting Systems was suing the TV network for $1.6bn, claiming its reputation was hurt after Fox knowingly spread lies about its voting machines after the 2020 US election

  • Then-president Donald Trump attacked the voting machine company after the ballot, falsely claiming that it rigged the election to favour winner Joe Biden

  • Dominion said Fox hosts amplified the “baseless allegations” - Fox said the claims were newsworthy

  1. Fox News goes on trialpublished at 16:20 British Summer Time 18 April 2023

    Marianna Brady
    Live reporter

    Welcome to our live coverage of the highly anticipated defamation trial against Fox News over 2020 election claims.

    Voting machine firm Dominion is suing the broadcaster for $1.6bn (£1.29bn), arguing that it knowingly promoted false claims of vote-rigging against Donald Trump after the 2020 US election.

    Hosts and conservative guests on the channel amplified false claims that Dominion had used its voting machines to deny Trump victory - but text messages revealed in the suit have shown that not all the hosts believed this to be true.

    Fox vowed to fight the "baseless lawsuit” in court - a fight which will begin today for all the world to see.

    I’m with live reporters Jamie Whitehead, Malu Cursino, Nadine Yousif, Ece Goksedef and Sam Hancock, and we have Bernd Debusmann Jr in court in Delaware for us today.

    Stay with us.

    The Dominion Voting Systems legal team arrives at the courthouse in Wilmington, Delaware.Image source, Getty Images
    Image caption,

    The Dominion Voting Systems legal team arrives at the courthouse in Wilmington, Delaware, on 18 April