Opening Up the Fox Files

More than four years after the 2020 election, the lies spread by Donald Trump’s allies in right-wing media are still reverberating, as high-stakes defamation lawsuits continue to wind their way through the courts.

Today, we’re announcing a legal filing that goes to the heart of what Status was built to do: holding the powerful to account. On Friday, Status filed a notice in the New York Supreme Court asking the court not to seal a trove of documents set to be filed in election technology company Smartmatic’s closely watched lawsuit against Fox News.

While legacy news outlets have traditionally taken this action, none have stood up and sought these important materials as the crown jewel in Rupert Murdoch’s media empire faces a massive $2.7 billion lawsuit over its airing of bogus claims that the 2020 election was stolen from Trump.

Smartmatic alleges that Fox News knowingly promoted these fabrications as part of a deliberate effort to boost ratings and appease an audience hungry for conspiracy theories. The lawsuit names pro-Trump Fox personalities like Maria Bartiromo, Jeanine Pirro, and the late Lou Dobbs, as well as Trump allies Rudy Giuliani and Sidney Powell. Fox has vehemently denied Smartmatic’s claims, calling the company’s request for damages "disconnected from reality and on their face intended to chill First Amendment freedoms."

But as the case enters its critical summary judgment phase, much of the legal back-and-forth—communications, exhibits, and other supporting documents—may be sealed from public view. That’s where we come in.

We filed our notice because we believe the public has a right to see these documents. Not just because they’re newsworthy, but because they’re essential to understanding how misinformation is spread in right-wing media, how it takes hold, and who is responsible.

In our filing, we asked the court to ensure that the parties in this case meet their burden to justify any sealing. We are asking for transparency in the parts of the case that go to the very heart of what happened, who knew what, and when.

In the wake of Dominion Voting Systems' record $787 million settlement with Fox News over its airing of similar false claims, Smartmatic’s lawsuit stands as one of the most consequential defamation cases of our time—raising core questions about media accountability and the limits of First Amendment protections. In Dominion’s showdown with Fox News, pre-trial discovery produced a cache of damning messages from network executives and personalities showing they did not believe the baseless claims they were pushing on the air to appease their pro-Trump audience.

This fight for transparency is part of our mission at Status. We’re not just covering the media—we’re holding it to account. Every day, we pull back the curtain on how power works inside the biggest newsrooms, boardrooms, and political backrooms. But we can’t do that work alone.

When we say your subscription makes a difference, this is what we mean. It’s your support that lets us go head-to-head with some of the most powerful media institutions in the country—and demand answers.

Thank you for reading, thank you for supporting us, and thank you for believing in our work. We’ll keep fighting to unseal the truth—and keep you informed every step of the way. Stay tuned.