'The emasculation of Fox News': Internet reacts to $787.5 million Dominion defamation settlement

Dominion Voting Systems accepted a settlement offer from Fox News on Tuesday in its $1.6 billion defamation lawsuit against the network's willful false reporting and propagation of former President Donald Trump's conspiracy theories about the 2020 election.

The agreement was reached shortly after jurors were seated in the high-profile trial, which coincided with Dominion submitting additional exhibits that included more than seven thousand examples of internal communications and texts between employees and executives.

New Castle County, Delaware Superior Court Judge Eric Davis also assigned a special master "to oversee the investigation into whether Fox News followed discovery demands," per Raw Story.

Details, however, are still emerging.

"Dominion lawyer Justin Nelson just said Fox is settling the case for $787.5 million," MSNBC producer Kyle Griffin reported. Nelson added that "lies have consequences. The truth does not know red or blue."

Semafor's Ben Smith reported that according to attorney Erik Connolly, who represents Smartmatic, "Dominion's litigation exposed some of the misconduct and damage caused by Fox's disinformation campaign. Smartmatic will expose the rest. Smartmatic remains committed to clearing its name, recouping the significant damage done to the company, and holding Fox accountable for undermining democracy.”

Because of the nature of the case and its impact on the American political landscape, experts and onlookers speculated about Fox's forthcoming comeuppance.

Dominion Chief Executive Officer John Poulosnoted at a press conference that "Fox has admitted telling lies."

Two of Dominion's counselors shared their thoughts too.

"It's a good day for Dominion," one exclaimed. "It's a good day for democracy," their colleague replied.

Media Matters for America's Matthew Gertz tweeted that "Fox News has settled with Dominion for what is presumably a massive sum. But no amount of money can erase what we all learned about Fox from this case."

CNN's Brian Stelter stated that "regardless of what happens next in Dominion v. Fox, it's clear that the network has been held accountable like never before."

CNN senior legal analyst Elie Honig observed that Fox's monetary penalty is "10 times the value of Dominion."

When Fox News responded with a "continued commitment to the highest journalistic standards," CNN anchor Jake Tapper declared on the air that "this is going to be difficult to say with a straight face."

Meanwhile, podcaster Victor Shi blasted the outcome, writing on Twitter: "What the actual f*ck. The Judge just announced that Dominion has SETTLED its case with Fox and that the case has been resolved. This was a terrible decision by Dominion to settle — both for justice and for our democracy. Godd*mnit."

Shi complained that "Dominion just announced they settled for $787.5 MILLION. That's not even half of the $1.6 BILLION that Dominion wanted from Fox & it's NOTHING for Fox 'News.' This is the literal definition of letting your opponent win. So embarrassing & bad for democracy."

Elie Mystal, a justice correspondent for The Nation, opined that "I think the reason this is disappointing is that Dominion gets $787.5 million dollars. But we, the people who supported them over the lies and misinformation spread by Fox... get nothing. I'd feel better if I got a cut. Instead. I just get more of Tucker Carlson's smirking face."

Jack E. Smith: "Dominion's emasculation of Fox News is underway."

LA Blue Dot in GA: "Freedom of speech does not mean freedom from consequences. Hannity, Carlson & Fox News are free to lie about the stolen election and Dominion voting machines for maximum profit & viewership. Dominion is free to sue them into oblivion."'

BrooklynDad_Defiant!: "I hope this settlement between Dominion and Fox involves each of their airheads -- Hannity, Carlson, Ingraham, etc -- forced to apologize at the beginning and end of each show for lying repeatedly and knowingly to America, and they have to admit President Biden won the election.…"