Polygraph

Fox News paid almost a billion dollars in a lawsuit related to accusations about the 2020 election and voting machine makers.

Posted by The Daily Beast Podcast, Checked

Polygraph verdictTrue
Sources
5 support1 context
Said
1 time·
Confidence
85%
The Daily Beast PodcastSep 8, 2026
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Multiple independent reliable outlets (AP, Reuters, NPR, Bloomberg) report that Fox agreed to pay Dominion Voting Systems $787.5 million to settle its defamation lawsuit over 2020 election vote-rigging claims about voting machines.

What was said

… during the, um, a post in the post 2020 election, um, when Fox, Fox begins to support Trump's, um, ridiculous accusations about why he lost the election and conspiracy of the voting machine makers, and, I mean, all kinds of baloney, of course, and, uh, and that baloney then would cost Fox almost a billion dollars in a lawsuit against it. So, she is taking, yes, so she took a lot of, she took some of the heat on that. Other people took some of the heat, and I think that part of her leaving now, and so, and understanding that she leaves now because she supplied some, an internal memo, ah, to …
The Daily Beast Podcast · · from the transcriptPost →

What we found

Supports. Reuters and AP report that Fox News and Fox Corp agreed to pay Dominion Voting Systems $787.5 million to settle the defamation suit over false vote-rigging claims about the 2020 election.[1][2][3]

Supports. NPR and Bloomberg confirm the $787.5 million settlement with Dominion, which was the voting machine maker's lawsuit over election-fraud coverage.[4][5]

Context. The settlement was for about half of Dominion's $1.6 billion original demand, which is why reporting describes it as 'nearly $800 million' rather than a full billion.[2][3][4]

Context. The post's phrasing 'would cost Fox almost a billion dollars' is a conditional and loose figure; the settlement is a payment of about $787.5 million rather than a judgment, and the claim's 'paid' matches the reported settlement.[1][6]

Sources

6 sources: 2 fact-checkers, 4 tier 2

  1. 1Fox, Dominion reach $787M settlement over election claimsapnews.com · fact-checker · cited for: supports, context
  2. 2Fox settles Dominion lawsuit for $787.5 million over US ...reuters.com · fact-checker · cited for: supports, context
  3. 3Fox, Dominion Voting Systems reach $787 million settlement ...pbs.org · tier 2 · cited for: supports, context
  4. 4Fox News settles blockbuster defamation lawsuit with Dominion Voting Systemsnpr.org · tier 2 · cited for: supports, context
  5. 5Fox's $787.5 Million Settlement Doesn't End Its Liability Over 2020 Election Fraud Claimsbloomberg.com · tier 2 · cited for: supports
  6. 6Settlement reached in Fox vs Dominion lawsuitcnn.com · tier 2 · cited for: context

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