Lachlan Murdoch drops defamation suit against Crikey
Lachlan Murdoch has withdrawn his defamation lawsuit against the publishers of online news site Crikey.
The case was marked “discontinued/withdrawn” on the Federal Court website on Friday morning.
The move comes days after the Fox News network settled a lawsuit with a US voting system provider for $1.2 billion over false claims aired in the wake of the 2020 US presidential election.
Murdoch sued Crikey’s publishers Private Media over an allegedly defamatory June 29 opinion piece that was taken down and then re-posted on August 15.
Crikey political editor Bernard Keane, former editor-in-chief Peter Fray, chairman Eric Beecher and CEO Will Hayward were also named in the lawsuit.
Murdoch alleged the article titled “Trump is a confirmed unhinged traitor. And Murdoch is his unindicted co-conspirator”
conveyed a meaning that he illegally conspired with Trump to “incite a mob with murderous intent to march on the Capitol” in Washington DC on January 6.
In its defence, Crikey says Murdoch was “morally and ethically culpable” for the attack on the Capitol.
