The award of nearly $1 billion to parents of Sandy Hook shooting victims to compensate for harmful lies spread by fabulist Alex Jones isn't likely to do much to curb disinformation, experts say.

(AP Photo/Richard Drew, File)Three Fox News hosts — Maria Bartiromo, Lou Dobbs and Jeanine Pirro — are seeking the dismissal of claims against them and their employer as part of a $2.7 billion libel lawsuit brought by the voting technology company Smartmatic. It also argues that Dobbs' statements appearing to validate the claims of his guests were constitutionally protected opinions, not statements of fact. AdAll three hosts later aired a segment with an expert debunking some of the claims that had been made on its networks against Smartmatic and another voting technology company, Dominion. The Fox Business Network dropped Dobbs’ show Feb. 5, a day after the lawsuit was filed. Dobbs, in his motion to join the Fox request for dismissal, points out that he first covered Smartmatic a decade earlier, in 2006, when employed by CNN.

NEW YORK – Fox News has reached a settlement with slain Democratic National Committee employee Seth Rich's parents, who alleged in a lawsuit that the cable news company exploited their son's death in stories and commentary. Rich was shot and killed in 2016 in Washington, D.C., in what authorities described as a botched robbery attempt. His parents, Joel and Mary Rich, had objected to a Fox article and commentary falsely suggesting their son had leaked DNC emails to WikiLeaks during the presidential campaign. Internet theories that Rich had been assassinated for leaking emails were contradicted by U.S. intelligence reports. The court said that the family had plausibly alleged what amounted to a campaign of emotional torture.

The Rich family sought compensation for "mental anguish and emotional distress, emotional pain and suffering, and any other physical and mental injuries." The appeals court said that upon review, it determined that the lawsuit contained "sufficient facts" to survive a motion to dismiss the lawsuit based on failure to state a claim. To that end, the appeals court ordered proceedings to continue in the lawsuit. Lenny Gail, an attorney representing the Rich family, said in a statement, "This decision now clears the way for a thorough investigation into the facts. The dispute between Rich's family and Fox News dates back to the story Zimmerman published in 2017.