5 ms·

> The lies spread by Fox News were only believed by the people who already wanted to believe it. If that's the case, why are they forking out $700m, the larg

• elmerfud 4y ago
  Because defamation is still a crime and is still actionable regardless of if anyone is actually influenced by it. All you need to show to prove defamation is that the people or entity saying it knew it was false information and it was their intent to deceive people with it. It does not require any success. I suggest you look up the history around Hustler magazine and Jerry Falwell. This is an example where no reasonable person would believe the things hustler said about Jerry Falwell therefore there was no libel or defamation against him. Because the point isn't if someone is actually influenced it's if a reasonable person could be influenced. In the case of Fox News it is my opinion that nobody was actually influenced but as a news reporting agency spreading known false information a reasonable person could be influenced by it. My opinion that no one actually was influenced by it is because the polarization of our media is at such an extreme that only people tune in to the media they want that supports their confirmation bias.