A sign directing people where to vote. Voting company Smartmatic is threatening legal action against right-wing news outlets for spreading conspiracies about them.

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Voting company hit with right-wing conspiracies threatens defamation suits

Smartmatic says far-right news outlets 'defamed the company.'

 

Andrew Wyrich

Tech

Posted on Dec 14, 2020   Updated on Dec 14, 2020, 10:47 am CST

Smartmatic, a Florida-based voting company that has been brought up by Rudy Giuliani and others in President Donald Trump‘s orbit as they seek to cast doubt on the results of the 2020 election, is threatening legal action against right-wing media outlets that “defamed the company” in recent weeks.

The company said on Monday that it sent legal notices and retraction demand letters to Fox News, Newsmax, and One America News Network for “publishing false and defamatory statements” about the company in the wake of the 2020 election results. Trump and his team have claimed without evidence that the election was “rigged” or something nefarious happened with the results.

As Newsweek notes, in separate interviews on Fox News in November, Giuliani and Sidney Powell spoke about Smartmatic and alleged that the company had ties to Venezuela and China. Giuliani also tweeted about the company.

Smartmatic has pushed back against claims that it is connected to Dominion, another voting company that has been under attack from Trump and his team, and continued to do so on Monday.

“They have no evidence to support their attacks on Smartmatic because there is no evidence. This campaign was designed to defame Smartmatic and undermine legitimately conducted elections,” Antonio Mugica, CEO of Smartmatic, said in a blog post. “Our efforts are more than just about Smartmatic or any other company. This campaign is an attack on election systems and election workers in an effort to depress confidence in future elections and potentially counter the will of the voters, not just here, but in democracies around the world.”

The company continued by noting that “Smartmatic’s only involvement in the United States in the 2020 election was as the manufacturing partner, system integrator, and software developer for Los Angeles County’s publicly owned voting system.”


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*First Published: Dec 14, 2020, 10:38 am CST