July 22, 2021- 8: 22 p.m.
DOVER, Del. — A Delaware judge has dismissed a lawsuit filed by conservative political commentator Candace Owens against USA Today and another media organization over fact-checking coronavirus posts she made on Facebook.
The judge ruled earlier this week that Owens had failed to state an actionable claim against USA Today or Lead Stories LLC, a Colorado-based entity. Lead Stories, like USA Today, is paid by Facebook to publish fact-check articles examining whether certain posts contain false information, according to the court ruling. Dozens of outside organizations, including The Associated Press, participate in Facebook’s fact-checking program.
Lead Stories published an article in April 2020 fact-checking a Facebook post in which Owens claimed that the way U.S. government officials counted COVID-19 deaths overstated the scope and dangers of the pandemic. The Lead Stories article labeled Owens’ post with the terms “Hoax Alert” and “False” and prompted Facebook to place a false information warning label on Owens’ post.
“The political aspects of this case are manifest but must be ignored in favor of application of the law,” Superior Court Judge Craig Karsnitz noted in his ruling.
Owens claimed that the defendants’ articles harmed her by preventing her from deriving advertising revenue from her Facebook page and promoting her book “Blackout” on Facebook. She sued USA Today and Lead Stories for intentional interference with contractual relations, tortious interference with prospective business relations, and unfair competition. She also filed two separate claims against Lead Stories accusing it of defamation.
“The political aspects of this case are manifest but must be ignored in favor of application of the law,” Superior Court Judge Craig Karsnitz noted in his ruling.
