Fox faces "existential threat" from its multibillion-dollar defamation cases

Fox Chairman Rupert Murdoch said under oath that he made a business decision when allowing a conspiracy theorist to promote election lies on Fox News.

“It is not red or blue; it is green,” he told lawyers in a deposition made public on February 27.

But spreading falsehoods about the 2020 presidential election for the money may prove extremely costly for Fox.

The network faces two separate defamation lawsuits from voting technology companies that collectively seek $4.3 billion in damages. Fox Corporation, the right-wing news outlet’s owner, has an estimated $4 billion in cash on hand, according to its latest earnings statement.

Murdoch’s bombshell deposition — in which he acknowledged that some Fox hosts endorsed false claims that the 2020 election was stolen — could be a game-changer for Dominion’s case, which hinges on meeting a high legal bar known as “actual malice.” To meet that standard, a plaintiff has to show that the defendant made defamatory statements with the knowledge that it was false or with reckless disregard for the truth.

“This is one of the most devastating depositions that I’ve ever seen,” CNN legal analyst Norm Eisen said on February 27. “When you go beyond reporting and your chairman admits there was an endorsement, then that opens you up to liability under the actual malice standard.”

If Fox were to lose either case, it’s not guaranteed that it would have to pay the full amount if a jury decides the damages were excessive.

On the other hand, Eisen noted, a jury could also increase the award.

“If the jury decides that it was bad enough conduct, they can double or triple that $1.6 billion or go even higher,” Eisen told CNN’s Wolf Blitzer.