Tucker Carlson announces new show on Twitter, Fox News sees return of advertisers

Former Fox News host Tucker Carlson has announced that he will be launching a new show on Twitter. Carlson made the announcement in a three-minute video posted to his Twitter account, which has more than 7 million followers.

In the video, Carlson did not mention Fox News, but instead criticized the news media in general for what he described as groupthink.

We’re back. pic.twitter.com/sG5t9gr60O

— Tucker Carlson (@TuckerCarlson) May 9, 2023

According to Carlson, the new show on Twitter will be a new version of the show that he has been doing for the last 6 1/2 years. He also promised that there will be other things included in the show that will be revealed later on. 

“Amazingly that as of tonight, there aren’t many platforms left that allow free speech,” Carlson said in his video, before praising Twitter as a place “where our national conversation has long incubated and developed.”

Fox News reported Carlson's departure in April, shortly after agreeing to pay Dominion Voting Systems $787.5 million to avoid a defamation trial.

Dominion had accused Fox News personalities of spreading falsehoods about election fraud during the 2020 elections. Carlson was subsequently ousted from his prime-time hosting slot on Fox News, where his segments and commentary were often criticized by liberals for his controversial takes on race, immigration, gender identity, and more recently by Republicans for his positive comments about Putin and Russia's invasion of Ukraine. 

With Carlson gone, Fox News is left with a gap in its prime-time lineup. The network's parent company, Fox Corp., has agreed to pay Dominion Voting Systems the large settlement amount, and is also facing another defamation lawsuit from Smartmatic, a voting technology firm seeking $2.7 billion in damages.

“As a report prepared by our financial expert shows, Smartmatic’s damages claims are implausible, disconnected from reality, and on its face intended to chill First Amendment freedoms," Fox has said in a previous statement.

Smartmatic is a multinational company that was founded in Florida in 2000 by a group of engineers from Venezuela. While the company's headquarters are currently located in London, U.K., it has offices and operations in several countries worldwide, including the U.S., the Philippines, Brazil, and Belgium.

The election machine company was founded in 2000 by Antonio Mugica, Alfredo José Anzola, and Roger Piñate, though gained attention quickly after it was chosen to replace voting machines in Venezuela ahead of Hugo Chávez's 2004 reelection. The company actually spoke out to accuse the Venezuelan government of voter fraud in 2017.

Smartmatic launched defamation lawsuits against some of its accusers, most notably those against Fox News, Mike Lindell, Newsmax, Sidney Powell, and Rudy Giuliani.

Smartmatic does not provide technology to the battleground states that sealed President-elect Joseph R. Biden Jr.’s victory, the New York Times reported.

Fox News has seen new advertisers come in and new demand.

Jeff Collins, executive vice president of ad sales at Fox News Media, stated in an interview with Vanity Fair that since launching the new program, they have had over 40 new advertisers come into the hour, including some of the largest in the country and across all major categories.

In his video, Carlson said that the best anyone in the news business can hope for is "the freedom to tell the fullest truth that you can. But there are always limits." Carlson went on to praise Twitter as a place "where our national conversation has long incubated and developed."