OAN host Chanel Rion has been accused of spreading false claims about Dominion
(Picture: AFP via Getty Images)Dominion Voting Systems is suing One America News Network for more than $1.6 billion in damages – which it accuses of defamation for pushing conspiracy theories around the 2020 presidential election.
On Tuesday, the company sued the far-right organisation after allegedly engaging “in a race to the bottom with Fox and other outlets such as Newsmax to spread false and manufactured stories about election fraud.”
The lawsuit said, “Dominion quickly became the focus of this downward spiral of lies, as each broadcaster attempted to outdo the others by making the lies more outrageous, spreading them further, and endorsing them as strongly as possible.”
They added that the theories were “verifiably false” and were detrimental to Dominion’s reputation.
They seek at least $1 billion in “lost enterprise value”, $600 million for lost profits, $700,000 for “expenses incurred combatting the disinformation campaign”, and $600,000 for security expenses.
OAN hosts Chanel Rion and Christina Bobb have also been accused of amplifying the false narratives about Dominion – after presenting Rion “as an in-house spokesperson for all Dominion-related content.”
According to the lawsuit, Rion was responsible for “an entire line of programming exclusively devoted to defaming Dominion, descriptively named ‘Dominion-izing the Vote,’ which branded OAN’s disinformation and defamation campaign against Dominion into a single catchy phrase that is now synonymous with fraudulently flipping votes.”
Dominion Voting Systems have filed a series of lawsuits against people and organisations that pushed false theories with claims it manipulated the results of the 2020 election – which has caused lasting damage to US democracy.
People took to Twitter on the matter.
🙋♂️Raise your hand if you're happy that Dominion is suing OAN & Newsmax for lying about the 2020 election.
— Steve Herzfeld 🌊 (@american2084) August 10, 2021
Happy to see Chanel and Christina of OAN were named. That personal responsibility thing can be a little tricky. #ETTD
— Gertrude Maude (@MaudeGertrude) August 10, 2021
OAN only hires people who can lie, steal, and cheat.
— Martina Patrick (@patina626) August 10, 2021
I hope this bankrupts OAN and their MAGA swamp-dwelling megaphones.
— Deep State Agent 🕵️🇺🇸🏴☠️ (@DeepStateSpy1) August 10, 2021
OAN used to be called Wealth TV. The only news they did was recycled Reuters packages. Now, same thing—just with crazier anchors and dangerous opinions https://t.co/m5ArY6TSde
— 🏴☠️ (@hewhor3mains) August 10, 2021
@ChanelRionOAN has absolutely no idea what she’s gotten into here. OAN will feed her to the lions. https://t.co/iS08wW9N0K
— IrishDem ❄️🌊 ☘️ (@RealBlue75) August 10, 2021
