Dominion’s Big Fox News Settlement Is America’s Loss

Dominion Voting, America’s unexpected fighter for its fledgling democracy, settled its $1.6 billion lawsuit with Fox and decided to step out of the ring with a bag of money instead of vanquishing one of the country’s most destructive and influential peddlers of hate and disinformation.

On Tuesday, Dominion accepted a $787.5 million payment from Fox effectively ending their two-year defamation case against the disinformation network that knowingly promoted conspiracy theories and lies about the voting company’s role in the 2020 election. “We acknowledge the court’s rulings finding certain claims about Dominion to be false,” Fox said in a statement.

For those worried about the future of capitalism, the Dominion-Fox lawsuit is a good reminder that bad-faith right-wing actors with money can still trump accountability. Although temporarily weakened, Fox remains healthy enough to continue being a platform for white nationalist talking points—and is free to double down on its attack on our democracy, marginalized communities, the environment, and the truth.