Rupert Murdoch, Fox Corp. Sued for Sharing Biden’s Presidential Ads Before They Aired

Winston Cho
·2 min read
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A complaint has been filed against Fox Corp. and chairman Rupert Murdoch over allegations that the network chief gave confidential information in 2020 to former president Donald Trump’s campaign.

In a suit filed with the Federal Election Commission on Friday, progressive watchdog group Media Matters claims that Fox made an illegal contribution to Trump’s political action committee when Murdoch shared then-candidate Joe Biden’s campaign advertisements with Trump son-in-law Jared Kushner. The liberal nonprofit seeks the maximum fine allowable for violations of campaign contribution laws and “appropriate remedial action” against Fox, Murdoch and the Make America Great Again PAC for a “nefarious attempt by people in power to operate a press entity as a political organization.”

More from The Hollywood Reporter

A filing in Dominion Voting Systems’ defamation suit against Fox included claims that Murdoch gave Kushner a preview of Biden’s ads before they were public. It cited a deposition from Murdoch and internal company communications.

The Federal Election Campaign Act prohibits campaign contributions from corporations, including direct or indirect gifts of money or services. The FEC considers information about advertising, messaging and other campaign strategy a contribution, according to the complaint.

While there are press exemptions for violations of the FEC Act, the suit alleges that Fox wasn’t acting as a press entity. It stresses that the ads hadn’t aired at the time Murdoch provided the information to Kushner and that the ads were covertly shared to hide the alleged misconduct.

“This ‘distribution’ is diametrically opposed to Fox Corporation’s regular press activity broadcasting news programming through television and radio outlets and online publications,” writes Angelo Carusone, president of Media Matters, in the suit. “Murdoch’s secret conveyance of the Biden advertisement is even less like press activity than a cablecasting company sending campaign flyers in its bills — and neither can be protected by the press Exemption.”

In a statement, Fox said Murdoch “forwarded an already-publicly available Biden campaign ad which was available on YouTube and had even run on public airwaves.”

“Dominion has been caught red handed again using more distortions and misinformation in their PR campaign to smear FOX News and trample on free speech and freedom of the press,” it added.

The White House didn’t immediately respond to requests for comment.

March 9, 9:45 a.m. This story has been updated with Fox’s statement to The Hollywood Reporter.

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