As part of a lawsuit with Smartmatic, a voting technology company, Newsmax is being forced to hand over their personal phone and cloud data.
Smartmatic’s lawsuit against Newsmax holds that Newsmax purposefully published false information regarding the technology company’s involvement in the 2020 presidential election.
According to the lawsuit, Newsmax’s actions suggested that Smartmatic was “part of a nefarious conspiracy to rig the election.”
Newsmax has since forced its employees to submit “mirror images of their personal cell phones, personal email, and iCloud” in order to honor the subpoenas given by Smartmatic.
Employees see the action as an invasion of privacy and have expressed that their jobs may be threatened if they do not comply.
An attorney in employment-discrimination law, Jasmine Rand, proposed that there may be no other option available to Newsmax employees unless they challenge the subpoena.
The lawsuit follows the Dominion Voting System’s lawsuit against Fox News.
Reporting from Reclaim the Net:
J. Erik Connolly, Smartmatic’s counsel, indicated that the firm is diligently seeking discovery from current and former Newsmax employees who allegedly played a role in spreading alleged misinformation. Connolly, who holds the position of managing chair of the litigation practice group at Benesch, Friedlander, Coplan, & Aronoff, LLC, stated, “Smartmatic intends to pursue discovery from the current and former Newsmax employees who participated in the egregious disinformation campaign against the company.”
