Conspiracists Beware: Post-Election Lies Could Land You in Legal Hot Water

[Nevilledog]

https://www.thebulwark.com/conspiracists-beware-post-election-lies-could-land-you-in-legal-hot-water/

As Elon Musk seeks to dismantle Twitter’s verification standards and the new crop of pro-Trump anything-goes social media networks like Truth Social and Rumble gain momentum, MAGA media activists may feel emboldened to spread lies about the midterm election even more recklessly than they did in 2020. They ought to consider what’s happening to some of their conspiracy-minded fellow travelers.

At first glance, it might seem as if the most brazen peddlers of Trump-era misinformation haven’t paid any price for their lies. But let’s look at the record. Fox News is facing a pair of billion-dollar defamation suits brought by election-technology firms Dominion Voting Systems and Smartmatic. Fox has also settled with the family of slain Democratic National Committee staffer Seth Rich, putting the network in the same league as InfoWars fabulist Alex Jones, now on the hook to pay Sandy Hook families $965 million in damages. These examples show that defamation laws can be effectively applied to both traditional and nontraditional media figures. And new legal efforts are underway asking the courts to do just that.

Over the past year, the nonprofit Protect Democracy’s Law for Truth project has been successfully advancing libel cases against a number of individuals and organizations responsible for generating and disseminating election-related disinformation. This represents an effort to disrupt the status quo, where defamation challenges are chiefly brought against the big newsrooms at Fox News, CNN, the Washington Post, and the New York Times, while lesser-known media figures who demonstrate total disregard for journalistic standards remain unaccountable.

The explanation for the lopsided pursuit of defamation cases has less to do with matters of justice or any special First Amendment protections than with economics. Libel police, thank goodness, are not roaming the Internet like traffic cops scouting for violations; cases can only be brought by people who are both harmed and have means to litigate. The latter factor is often decisive, since obtaining legal remedies is expensive, grueling, and time-consuming. Hence the imbalance in enforcing defamation laws: Typically, it’s only worthwhile for plaintiffs to sue deep-pocketed corporate entities where a payout is possible.

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[Indykatie]

1. DOJ Needs to Start Indicting and Arresting Higher Up GOP Criminals on 11/9

That's the only way to send the message there's a price to pay for their actions. The country needs to see the fake electors, funders and planners of J6 face justice. Others will then think twice before repeating election related and other crimes.