On 7 July 2021 judgment was handed down in the case of Vardy v Rooney [2021] EWHC 1888 (QB). Steyn J ordered the striking out of substantial parts of the defence of truth advanced by Coleen Rooney. There was a post on Inforrm and 5RB.
The Press Gazette had a piece “News of the World closure ten years on: How hacking scandal cost Murdoch’s UK tabloid business £1bn”.
The Guardian had an article “News of the World: 10 years since phone-hacking scandal brought down tabloid”.
Byline Investigates had a piece “Paul Dacre faces fresh claims he misled press ethics probe”.
As usual, updates on the Coronavirus guidance can be found on the Courts and Tribunal Judiciary.
Internet and Social Media
Bloomberg had a piece “Facebook Finds Itself in Strange Faceoff With Faceparty Founder”.
City A.M had a piece “Facebook ‘lost’ important rule on dangerous individuals for three years”.
Data Privacy and Data Protection
The ICO published its annual tracking research showing that 77% of people say protecting their personal information is essential. The survey of over 2,000 individuals monitors changes in what people think about data protection and freedom of information, and how they utilise their information rights.
The ICO had a blog post “ICO creates practical design guidance to help embed children’s privacy standards”.
Norton Rose Fulbright Data Protection Report had a post “EU’s possible Data Act: What can we anticipate from the Inception Impact Assessment and the Consultation?”.
Surveillance
Wired had a piece “Europe makes the case to ban biometric surveillance”.
Newspapers Journalism and Regulation
IPSO has published a number of rulings and resolutions statement since our last Round Up:
- Resolution Statement – 04181-21 Thompson v dailyrecord.co.uk, Relevant code provisions. 1 Accuracy (2019), Resolved – IPSO mediation.
- Resolution Statement – 03247-21 Bates v thesun.co.uk, Relevant code provisions, 1 Accuracy (2019), 9 Reporting of crime (2019), Resolved – IPSO mediation
- Decision of the Complaints Committee – 02714-21 Lynn v Daily Mirror, Relevant code provisions, 2 Privacy (2019), 4 Intrusion into grief or shock (2019), No breach – after investigation
- Decision of the Complaints Committee – 01958-21 Linehan v metro.co.uk, Relevant code provisions, 1 Accuracy (2019), 3 Harassment (2019), No breach – after investigation.
- Decision of the Complaints Committee – 01432-21 Agbetu v Mail Online, Relevant code provisions, 1 Accuracy (2019), Breach – sanction: action as offered by publication
- Decision of the Complaints Committee – 00599-21 A woman v Liverpool Echo, Relevant code provisions, 1 Accuracy (2019), 2 Privacy (2019), 14 Confidential sources (2019), No breach – after investigation.
- Decision of the Complaints Committee – 28045-20 Coutts v The Scottish Sun, Relevant code provisions, 1 Accuracy (2019), Breach – sanction: publication of correction
New Issued Cases
There were 12 new cases issued in the Media and Communications List between 4 and 11 July 2021: 4 data protection cases, 6 defamation cases, one injunction case, and one harassment case.
Last Week in the Courts
On 5 July 2021 Collins Rice J handed down judgment in the the privacy case of GUH v KYT [2021] EWHC 1854 (QB).
As already mentioned, on 7 July 2021, Steyn J handed down judgment in the case of Vardy v Rooney [2021] EWHC 1888 (QB).
On the same day Nicklin J handed down judgment in the case of Bindel v PinkNews Media Group Ltd, [2021] EWHC 1868 (QB) He refused to order the trial of a preliminary issue in a libel case.
On 9 July 2021 the Court of Appeal (Popplewell, Dingemans and Carr LJJ) handed down judgment in the case of Greenstein v Campaign Against Antisemitism [2021] EWCA Civ 1006 (heard 24 June 2021). The appeal was dismissed.
Media Law in Other Jurisdiction
Australia
On 5 July 2021 Flick J gave judgment in the case of Kumova v Davison [2021] FCA 753. It was held that Mr Davison was not a “journalist” in relation to publications on Twitter and so was not entitled to protect his “sources”.
On 9 July 2021 Kenneth Martin J handed down judgment in the case of Nguyen v Hinsley [2021] WASC 220, striking out multiple parts of the defence and counterclaim, with leave to replead.
The New South Wales deputy premier, John Barilaro, is suing YouTube comedian Jordan Shanks for defamation. Lawyers for John Barilaro will launch a “wholesale attack” on the defence filed by the YouTube comedian, saying there is “barely a paragraph” of the document that will “survive” their challenge. Friday was the first case management hearing over two videos the deputy premier claims are “vile and racist” and brought him into “public disrepute, odium, ridicule and contempt”. Shanks has filed a truth defence over some of the imputations, including that Barilaro is a “corrupt conman” and that he committed perjury. The Guardian had a piece. The Sydney Morning Herald had a piece “Judge given USB of Friendlyjordies videos in John Barilaro defamation case”.
Mondaq had a piece “Defamation case study: The case of a Not-for-profit (NFP) and defamation on social media”.
Indonesia
Al Jazeera had a piece “Silencing the media: Indonesia shooting reveals reporting risks”.
Ireland
On 2 July 2021 Allen J handed down judgment in the Norwich Pharmacal application of Portakabin Ltd & Anor v Google Ireland Ltd [2021] IEHC 446, a case concerning defamatory emails send from a gmail account.
Former journalist Gemma O’Doherty has been ordered by the High Court to remove videos posted on the internet about Dublin’s Beaumont Hospital and its director of nursing.Mr Justice Senan Allen granted the injunctions, under the Defamation Act 2009 and pending the full hearing of proceeding, after finding the three videos are defamatory and Ms O’Doherty had advanced no reasonable defence to the plaintiffs’ claim in that regard which was likely to succeed. The Irish Times had a piece.
The Irish Times had an article “Engineer claims he was defamed in court report on uninsured driver with same name”.
United States
The Daily Mail had a piece “Kailyn Lowry files a defamation lawsuit against her Teen Mom 2 costar Briana Dejesus alleging she made ‘untrue’ statements”.
The Committee to Protect Journalists had an alert “Journalists attacked by anti-LGBT demonstrators in Tbilisi, Georgia”.
Bloomberg Law had a piece “Reputation Management and the Growing Threat of Deepfakes”.
Research and Resources
- Surveilling the Gamers: Privacy Impacts of the Video Game Industry, Jacob Leon Kröger, Technische Universität Berlin; Weizenbaum Institute for the Networked Society, Philip Raschke, Technische Universität Berlin, Jessica Percy Campbell, University of Victoria, Stefan Ullrich, Weizenbaum Institute for the Networked Society.
- Five Challenges in Detection and Mitigation of Disinformation on Social Media, Marco T. Bastos, University College Dublin; City University London – School of Social Sciences.
- A Research Agenda for Studying Young and Older Adults’ Privacy Decisions, Reza Ghaiumy Anaraky, Clemson University.
- Big Data Protection: Big Problem? Antitrust Chronicle, June 2021, Stephen Dnes, Northeastern University.
- Caring Is not Enough: The Importance of Internet Skills for Online Privacy Protection, Information, Communication & Society, 20(8), 2016; 1261-1278. doi: 10.1080/1369118X.2016.1229001, Moritz Büchi University of Zurich, Natascha Just University of Zurich, Michael Latzer University of Zurich – IKMZ, Media Change & Innovation Division.
- Inequality in Online Privacy: Direct and Indirect Sociodemographic Effects on Self-Protection, Moritz Büchi, University of Zurich, Noemi Festic, Department of Communication and Media Research, Natascha Just, University of Zurich, Michael Latzer, University of Zurich – IKMZ, Media Change & Innovation Division
- Predictions and Privacy: Should There Be Rules About Using Personal Data to Forecast the Future? 48 Cumb. L. Rev. 149 (2018), Hideyuki MATSUMI, Vrije Universiteit Brussel (VUB); Keio University.
- Artificial Intelligence and Corporate Social Responsibility: Employees’ Key Role in Driving Responsible Artificial Intelligence at Big Tech, Susan von Struensee, Global Research Initiative.
- The Ethics of Facial Recognition Technologies, Surveillance and Accountability in an Age of Artificial Intelligence: A Comparative Analysis of USA, EU and UK Regulatory Frameworks, Forthcoming, AI Auditing, Assurance, and Certification. AI and Ethics. Springer. ISSN: 2730-5961, Denise R. S. Almeida, University College London, Konstantin Shmarko, University College London, Elizabeth Lomas, University College London
- Publish, Share, Re-Tweet, and Repeat, University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform, Vol. 54, No. 2, 2021, Michal Lavi, Hebrew University of Jerusalem – Faculty of Law; The Hadar Jabotinsky Center for Interdisciplinary Research of Financial Markets, Crises and Technology (HJC).
- An Endless Odyssey? Content Moderation Without General Content Monitoring Obligations, Christina Angelopoulos, University of Cambridge, Martin Senftleben, Institute for Information Law (IViR), University of Amsterdam; University of Amsterdam
Next Week in the Courts
We are not aware of any media law hearings listed for the forthcoming week.
Reserved Judgments
The following reserved judgments after a public hearing are outstanding:
Masarir v Kingdom of Saudi Arabia., heard 15 and 16 June 2021 (Julian Knowles J)
Riley v Murray, heard 10 to 12 May 2021 (Nicklin J)
Lloyd v Google, heard 28 and 29 April 2021 (UKSC)
Hijazi v Yaxley-Lennon, heard 21-23 and 26 April 2021 (Nicklin J)
Kumlin v Jonsson, heard 24 and 25 March 2021 (Julian Knowles J).
Junejo v New Vision TV Limited, heard 24 and 25 March 2021 (Murray J)
Miller v College of Policing and another, heard 9 and 10 March 2021 (Sharp P, Haddon-Cave and Simler LJJ)
Wright v McCormack, heard 16 and 18 February 2021 (Julian Knowles J)
Desporte v Bull, heard 9 February 2021 (Julian Knowles J)
Ansari v Amini, heard 10-11 November 2020 (Julian Knowles J)
Please let us know if there are other reserved judgments which we should be listing.
This Round Up was compiled by Nataly Tedone who is a media and entertainment paralegal.
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