Misinformation and fake news are now threatening public health and endangering democracy itself. What might help contain the problem? Part of the answer lies in a very old remedy: the law of defamation. To see how this might work, consider the situation of Smartmatic and Dominion Voting Systems, two companies that provide software and other services for electronic voting machines. President Donald Trump’s lawyer, Rudy Giuliani, has publicly attacked both companies, suggesting that outcomes in “Michigan, Arizona and Georgia and other states” were affected by “SMARTMATIC, who was really doing the computing. Look up SMARTMATIC and tweet me what you think?” Commentators for Fox News, Newsmax and One America News have implied or suggested that the companies’ technologies have changed votes. Yet Smartmatic says it has done hardly any business in the U.S. since 2007, and in the 2020 election, it did none at all in Michigan, Arizona and Georgia. In response to the false attacks on his company, Antonio Mugica, Smartmatic’s CEO, has retained a noted defamation lawyer, J. Erik Connolly, who has demanded retractions from Fox, Newsmax and One America News, and threatened the possibility of a lawsuit. Connolly knows just what he is doing: “We’ve gotten to this point where there’s so much falsity that is being spread on certain platforms, and you may need an occasion where you send a message, and that’s what punitive damages can do in a case like this.”
Full Article: Fake News About Voting Machines Can Be Challenged - Bloomberg
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The Toll Of Conspiracy Theories: A Voting Security Expert Lives In Hiding | Bente Birkelund/NPR
More than a month ago, Eric Coomer went into hiding. The voting conspiracy theories that have led millions of Republicans to feel as though the election was stolen from them, which are still spreading, have also led to calls for Coomer's head. Coomer oversees product strategy and security for Dominion Voting Systems, the Denver-based company that has suddenly found itself at the center of many of President Trump's false claims about November's election, spread by allies and pro-Trump media. Some of Trump's supporters have focused on Coomer as the supposed evil mastermind. "I actually am in fear for my safety," Coomer said recently, speaking by video call from an undisclosed location to Colorado Public Radio. "I'm in fear for my family's safety. These are real, tangible things coming out of these baseless accusations." On Tuesday, Coomer sued the Trump campaign and a number of allies, alleging defamation.
Full Article: Dominion Voting Systems Official Is In Hiding After Threats : NPR
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"“We write to you now because you have positioned yourself as a prominent leader of the ongoing misinformation campaign by pretending to have some sort of ‘insider’s knowledge’ regarding Dominion’s business activities, when in reality you were hired through a staffing agency for one day to clean glass on machines and complete other menial tasks,” the letter stated.”
https://lawandcrime.com/high-profile/dominion-attorneys-send-brutal-letter-to-trump-campaigns-so-called-star-witness-mellissa-carone/
Dominion Attorneys Send Brutal Letter to Trump Campaign’s ‘So-Called Star Witness’ Mellissa Carone
JERRY LAMBEDec 24th, 2020, 5:26 pm 932
Attorneys representing Dominion Voting Systems this week, warning of imminent litigation, demanded that an array of President Donald Trump’s allies cease and desist from making false and “defamatory” claims that the company somehow “rigged or improperly influenced” the 2020 presidential election. The list of individuals and entities sent such letters was long, but perhaps no letter was as scathing as the one sent to Mellissa Carone, the former Dominion contractor and self-proclaimed whistleblower whose testimony before Michigan lawmakers went viral in early December.
Dominion, which supplied hardware and software for voting machines across the country, didn’t pull any punches in calling out Carone for engaging in a “smear campaign against the company,” saying her claims about fraud were “outlandish” and baseless.
“You gained international infamy earlier this month as Rudy Giuliani’s so-called ‘star witness’ who could supposedly corroborate outlandish accusations that Dominion has somehow rigged or otherwise improperly influenced the outcome of the Nov. 2020 U.S. presidential election,” attorneys Thomas Clare and Megan Meier wrote. “Without a shred of corroborating evidence, you have claimed that you witnessed several different versions of voter fraud—ranging from one story involving a van, to other accusations that votes were counted multiple times. You published these statements even though you knew all along that your attacks on Dominion have no basis in reality.”
Carone testified before the Michigan House and Senate Oversight Committees in a “stunt hearing,” saying she worked a 24-hour shift for providing IT support for Dominion voting machines at Detroit’s TCF Center on election day. She also submitted an affidavit in November claiming she witnessed individual ballots being scanned multiple times; she claimed thousands of ballots were being hidden in the vans used to provide food for elections workers.
“Everything that happened at that TCF Center was fraud,” she declared before the Michigan lawmakers.
“Every single thing,” she added.
Footage of her testimony went viral, resulting in her being parodied by Saturday Night Live. In a subsequent interview, Carone said she was “not drunk” during the hearing.
Dominion also took a swipe at Carone’s claims that her work for the company gave her access to any kind of special knowledge about its business processes.
“We write to you now because you have positioned yourself as a prominent leader of the ongoing misinformation campaign by pretending to have some sort of ‘insider’s knowledge’ regarding Dominion’s business activities, when in reality you were hired through a staffing agency for one day to clean glass on machines and complete other menial tasks,” the letter stated.
The letter further demanded that Carone cease making any additional “defamatory claims against Dominion” and preserve all documents relating to such claims, warning her that “litigation regarding these issues is imminent.” Relevant documents include any and all communications Carone may have had with “Kraken” attorney Sidney Powell, Lin Wood, Jenna Ellis, Rudy Giuliani and any other member of the Trump campaign. The lawyers also demand preservation of records for “every” person who has “compensated” Carone—or “any entity” related to her—for “making public statements” about Dominion.
Dominion letter
https://www.scribd.com/document/489079245/Carone-Letter#from_embed