DISINFORMATION AND THE FIRST AMENDMENT: FRAUD ON THE PUBLIC

"20 Other Republicans also inflamed the crowd.21 Following the rally, the crowd marched on the Capitol, overwhelmed the police, and broke into the building.22 In addition to property damage and stolen items from the Capitol, five people died during the storming of the Capitol, including a Capitol Police officer.23 At least 138 police officers were injured, including fifteen hospitalized with severe injuries.24 For example, one D.C. Metro police officer "was hit six times with a stun gun," suffered a heart attack, and "lost the tip of' one of his fingers.25 Another officer suffered "two cracked ribs and two smashed spinal discs," another lost an eye, another "lost three fingers," another was impaled "with a metal fence stake," and a large number of officers suffered brain trauma, including several with concussions.26 The Big Lie's harmful consequences extended beyond the Capitol. [...]Dominion Voting Systems incurred significant reputational and financial damages as a result.27 In the effort to spread the false claim that the election was stolen, several prominent Republican leaders and their allies made accusations against Dominion Voting Systems, a company that makes and sells electronic voting hardware and software, including voting machines and tabulators.28 In the 2020 election, its devices and technology were used to process votes in twentyeight states, including several swing states.29 Fox News and other conservative media outlets served as a platform for individuals associated with Trump and the Republican Party to spread false allegations about Dominion.30 These included, but were not limited to, the accusation that the company was founded and run by (dead) former Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez, the votes it tabulated were counted overseas, the company was owned by radical-left extremists affiliated with Antifa, the company had switched millions of votes from Trump to Biden, and the company was largely responsible for stealing the election away from Trump, and that its employees bragged about rigging the election in favor of Biden.31 Rightwing media greatly amplified these claims and repeated them, rather than debunking, fact-checking, or even questioning them.32 The disinformation campaign against Dominion led to its employees being "stalked, harassed and receiv[ing] death threats. Under the law, admitting you purposefully spread demonstrably false claims on national TV about nonexistent widespread voter fraud, undermining the legitimacy of a pr