Newsmax Media Inc. counter-sued Smartmatic Corp., widening a clash between the voting-technology company and the right-wing news outlet over its reporting on a viral conspiracy theory about the 2020 election.

Smartmatic sued Newsmax in November, accusing the network of broadcasting false claims that it conspired to flip millions of votes away from former President Donald Trump. But the suit violates a law against litigation intended to intimidate another party into silence on a matter of public interest, Newsmax said in a counterclaim filed Monday in Delaware.