Disinformation

Alex Jones

person

Alex Jones used his Infowars platform to amplify false claims of election fraud to millions of followers. He promoted the 'Stop the Steal' movement and was present at the January 6 rally preceding the Capitol attack. Jones had previously been ordered to pay nearly $1.5 billion in damages for spreading false conspiracy theories about the Sandy Hook school shooting, establishing a pattern of promoting dangerous disinformation.

Fox News

organization

Fox News amplified debunked claims about Dominion Voting Systems and election fraud on its programming. Internal communications revealed during the Dominion lawsuit showed that Fox hosts and executives privately acknowledged the fraud claims were false while continuing to air them for ratings. Fox News settled the Dominion lawsuit for $787.5 million — the largest known media defamation settlement in US history — without ever airing a public apology.

Lin Wood, a previously prominent defamation attorney, filed a series of increasingly outlandish lawsuits challenging election results in Georgia and other states, all of which were dismissed. He promoted conspiracy theories linking voting machine companies to Venezuela and China. Wood was investigated by the State Bar of Georgia and subject to a competency evaluation. His own former law partners described his claims as baseless.

Michael Flynn

person

Michael Flynn, Trump's former National Security Advisor who had previously pleaded guilty to lying to the FBI (and was pardoned), publicly advocated for Trump to declare martial law and use the military to "rerun" the election in swing states. He promoted QAnon conspiracy theories and appeared at rallies promoting the lie that the election was stolen. No credible evidence supported any of the claims he promoted.

Mike Lindell

person

Mike Lindell, CEO of MyPillow, became one of the most prolific promoters of debunked conspiracy theories about voting machines. He claimed to have "proof" that Chinese hackers switched votes via Dominion machines — evidence that cybersecurity experts unanimously dismissed as fabricated. Lindell spent millions of his own money promoting these claims and was sued by Dominion Voting Systems for defamation. He offered a $5 million reward to anyone who could disprove his data; a cybersecurity expert won the challenge but Lindell refused to pay.

One America News Network

organization

One America News Network (OAN) was a right-wing cable network that aggressively promoted debunked election fraud claims, including conspiracy theories about Dominion and Smartmatic voting machines. OAN aired content from figures like Mike Lindell and promoted the discredited Arizona "audit." The network settled a defamation lawsuit with Smartmatic and was dropped by multiple cable carriers. OAN broadcast claims that were uniformly rejected by courts.

Peter Navarro

person

Peter Navarro, a White House trade advisor with no election expertise, authored three reports he called "The Navarro Report" claiming to document election fraud. The reports were widely debunked by election experts as a collection of previously disproven claims, statistical errors, and misrepresentations. Navarro was convicted of contempt of Congress for refusing to comply with a January 6 Committee subpoena and served a four-month prison sentence.

Rudy Giuliani

person

Rudy Giuliani served as Trump's lead attorney in challenging the 2020 election results. He promoted debunked conspiracy theories about Dominion Voting Systems and other baseless fraud claims, including the infamous Four Seasons Total Landscaping press conference. Giuliani was disbarred in New York and Washington D.C. for making false statements about the election. He was found liable for defaming Georgia election workers Ruby Freeman and Shaye Moss and ordered to pay $148 million in damages.

Steve Bannon

person

Steve Bannon, Trump's former chief strategist, ran a podcast "War Room" that served as a central hub for promoting election fraud conspiracy theories. He was convicted of contempt of Congress for refusing to comply with a subpoena from the January 6 Committee. Before the election, Bannon predicted on tape that Trump would declare victory prematurely regardless of results, which is exactly what happened.

True the Vote is the organization behind the debunked "2000 Mules" documentary, which claimed to use cell phone geolocation data to prove widespread ballot harvesting. The methodology was rejected by experts, the Georgia Bureau of Investigation found no evidence supporting the claims, and a federal judge sanctioned True the Vote for failing to produce evidence. The film's distributor, Salem Media, pulled the film and apologized. True the Vote's founder was briefly jailed for contempt for refusing to reveal her sources.