Smartmatic, a voting machine company, has claimed that Fox News destroyed evidence in its multibillion-dollar lawsuit against the news network. In a court filing on Wednesday, Smartmatic alleged Fox News and its parent company, Fox Corp, “orchestrated the destruction of text messages across all levels of their corporate hierarchy.” Smartmatic sued Fox News in 2020 over some of the network’s claims that Smartmatic voting machines compromised the 2020 presidential election. The voting machine company in the court filing claimed Fox News owner Rupert Murdoch and chairman Lachlan Murdoch deleted their texts, which included evidence that would be helpful in the case. Smartmatic alleges Fox News destroyed text messages in 2020 election case as Fox wins new documents. https://t.co/YqNHE4g0Ae — ABC News (@ABC) May 15, 2025 Check out what ABC News reported: The multibillion dollar defamation lawsuit brought by voting machine company Smartmatic against Fox News lurched forward this week with new allegations filed by Smartmatic that Fox executives destroyed text messages — and a new ruling Fox News won that will allow them access to new documents that could help their defense. Smartmatic, in a court filing Wednesday, alleged that Fox News and Fox Corp “orchestrated the destruction of text messages across all levels of their corporate hierarchy” — a filing that comes as Fox continues to fight the defamation lawsuit brought by the voting machine company over the network’s 2020 election claims. Smartmatic claims those who “deleted their texts” include founder Rupert Mudoch and chairman Lachlan Murdoch. “The destruction was not isolated or accidental,” the filing, which was largely redacted, claims. “It was extensive and willful.” The claims were revealed in an introduction to the motion that was publicly filed with the court, though the rest of the motion remained redacted due to a 2022 “confidentially stipulation” between the parties. Smartmatic sued Fox and other defendants in 2021, claiming they “knowingly and intentionally” lied about Smartmatic in the wake of the 2020 election regarding claims of voting machine fraud, causing Smartmatic to lose business. Fox has said they were covering newsworthy allegations made by President Donald Trump and others, and has accused Smartmatic of looking to profit off a lawsuit. Smartmatic accuses Fox News, Rupert Murdoch of destroying evidence in 2020 election defamation case | CNN Business https://t.co/pHzTKrugbS — Peter Hale (@petervhale) May 15, 2025 Per CNN: A voting technology firm suing Fox News for defamation over its 2020 election coverage claimed senior corporate executives, including Rupert Murdoch, intentionally destroyed damning evidence in the case, according to court filings. Smartmatic levied the stunning new allegations on Wednesday, alleging in court filings that Fox “orchestrated the destruction of text messages across all levels of their corporate hierarchy… despite a clear duty to preserve evidence.” In the highly redacted filings, Smartmatic claimed Murdoch and his son Lachlan Murdoch were among the Fox officials who “deleted their texts” in an “extensive and willful” fashion — and not by accident. Rupert Murdoch was chairman of Fox Corporation during the 2020 election, and his son was CEO. The elder Murdoch stepped down in 2023 and his son became Fox Corp. chairman. A Fox spokesperson said the latest allegations from Smartmatic were a “desperate attempt to distract” from a recent evidentiary ruling that was decided in the network’s favor. “Smartmatic weakly attempts to resurrect stale, baseless discovery issues that actually were disclosed by Fox and resolved two years ago,” the Fox spokesperson said. “These issues have no bearing on the merits of Smartmatic’s case, which has fallen apart at every turn.”