Federal Judge Dismisses Defamation Suit Against NewsGuard
On March 26, 2025, a federal judge dismissed with prejudice a $13 million defamation suit filed against NewsGuard by Consortium News (Trust Score: 35/100), a site that covers international politics from a left-wing perspective that NewsGuard charged had published false claims about the Russia-Ukraine war, the Israel-Hamas war, and other topics.
U.S. District Judge Katherine Polk Failla of the Southern District of New York found that NewsGuard’s reporting was “protected opinion” and that Consortium News did not “plausibly allege” that NewsGuard findings were false. By dismissing the case with prejudice, the judge ruled that the suit can’t be refiled or reopened.
Consortium News also claimed in its lawsuit, which also named the U.S. government as a defendant, that a 2022 contract between the U.S. government and NewsGuard to study foreign disinformation campaigns violated its First Amendment rights because the contract made NewsGuard a government censor. Noting NewsGuard’s contention that the content of its work is independent of any client, including the government, Judge Fallia also dismissed that claim, ruling that the publication “has not shown that NewsGuard’s conduct amounts to state action.”
In a statement to media industry outlet Deadline (Trust Score: 100/100), Consortium News’ attorney Bruce Afran said: “Consortium News will appeal because we believe the trial court incorrectly made factual determinations at the beginning of the case when the issues were properly pled and give rise to claims of defamation and First Amendment violations.”
NewsGuard Co-CEO Gordon Crovitz told The Washington Post, “This opinion supports NewsGuard’s First Amendment rights to issue ratings of websites and denies that NewsGuard operates with any state power or authority.”
Read more about the dismissal of the suit in The Washington Post and Deadline. The full court opinion is available here.