On 15 December 2023,  Fancourt J handed down judgement in favour of the claimants in the case of The Duke of Sussex and Ors v MGN Limited [2023] EWHC 3217 (Ch).

The court held that MGN had been involved in extensive phone hacking between 1996 until 2011, with the knowledge of the editors at the time.  Despite this finding, former editor of the Daily Mirror, Piers Morgan, made a public statement continuing to deny any knowledge.

Prince Harry was awarded £140,600 in damages to compensate him for the distressed he suffered as a result of the phone hacking. The Mirror Group News have stated, “where historical wrongdoing took place, we apologise unreservedly, have taken full responsibility and paid appropriate compensation.” Although unlawful information gathering was established in relation to Nikki Sanderson and Fiona Wightman, there claims were dismissed as being outside of the limitation period.  There was an Inforrm piece on the case.  Hacked off published a press release. Press Gazette, The FT, the Guardian, Sky News, BBC, and the New York Times covered the ruling.

Rudy Giuliani has been ordered to pay $148 million to two election workers after he wrongfully alleged that they stole the election from former US President, Donald Trump. Following Mr Giuliani’s tweet, the plaintiffs received a torrent of threats and racist attacks and members of the public tried to perform a citizens’ arrest on them. Giuliani told reporters, “I don’t regret a damn thing,” and stood by his defamatory remarks suggesting that he would appeal the verdict. The New York Times, Reuters, the Guardian, NBC News, Washington Post, and CNN covered the story.

On 15 December 2023, members of the European Commission, Council and Parliament reached a provisional agreement on the European Media Freedom Act (EMFA), which is designed to safeguard media freedom, media pluralism and editorial independence. Several aspects of the deal were controversial, including the lack of protections against surveillance and spyware, afforded to journalists. A national security exemption was removed and provisions requiring authorisation by a judge or independent authority were kept in. Read the Council of the EU’s press release here. EurActiv and Politico covered the development.

Internet and Social Media

Mischon de Reya published a blog post analysing the new offences under the Online Safety Act 2023. The new offences are characterised as having a higher mens rea threshold than those they replace and can, notably, apply to corporate bodies.

 Data privacy and data protection

Campaign group, Noyb, have lodged a complaint against X, formerly known as Twitter, for breaching the GDPR by illegally micro-targeting chat control ads. Noyb claim that X used the political and religious views of their users to determine whether people should or should not see an ad campaign by the EU Commission’s Directorate General for Migration and Home Affairs. See Noyb’s press release here. CNBC and TechCrunch covered the complaint.

Following revelations by The Sunday Times that Tesco and Sainsbury’s have made £300 million by selling personal data on shopping habits linked to customers’ Clubcard and Nectar loyalty schemes, the chief executive of Sainsbury’s has defended the approach. Simon Roberts told the Guardian that customers’ data is anonymized and that the deals allow the company to provide “personalized messaging to customers.” More information is available from Bloomberg and the Retail Gazette.

The National Police Chiefs’ Council has released a statement following a review of its data practices, after the personal data of over 9,000 members of the Police Service of Northern Ireland was published online as the result of a legitimate FOI request. The review concluded that outdated information practices led to the breach. The BBC, Guardian and SkyNews covered the review.

Surveillance

The Big Brother Watch has published the results of its investigation, which show that the military supported Whitehall officials in monitoring the public through the Counter Disinformation Unit (CDU). The CDU was created during the pandemic to monitor misinformation, but the investigations revealed that MPs and journalists were also targeted by the unit.

Newspaper Journalism and regulation

IPSO ordered the Daily Mirror to publish a correction after Understanding Animal Research (UAR) brought a complaint in relation to an article which claimed, without verification, that testing medicine on animals did not predict how they would work in humans. IPSO held that a significant error was made, as the claim in the headline that there was an immense body of evidence was unsupported. The Press Gazette covered the ruling. Read the UAR’s press release here.

IPSO

Statements in open court and apologies

As mentioned above, on 15 December 2023, MNG issued a statement following the ruling of Fancourt J in the case of The Duke of Sussex and Ors v MGN Limited [2023] EWHC 3217 (Ch)

New Issued cases

There were two defamation (libel and slander) claims filed on the media and communications list last week.

Last week in the courts

On 11 December 2023 there was a pre-trial review in the case of Nagi v Sinniah Santhiramoulesan before Collins Rice J.

On the same day, Johnson J dismissed the appeal in the case of Hayes v Liberal Democrats and Dudhill [2023] EWHC 3166 (KB). The appellant, a barrister and founding member of the Liberal Democrats, sought an order against the respondents requiring them to identify the identities of people who had made anonymous complaints against her to the political party. The court held that Master McCloud was entitled to reach the conclusion that it was not in the interests of justice to make such an order.

On 12 December 2023 there was an anonymity application in the case of Various Claimants -v- Home Office KB-2023-003633, -003642, -003666, -003667, -003668, -003670, -003671, -003672, -003674, -003675, -003676, -003677, -003678, -003683, -003685, and -003686-.

On 13 December 2023, there was a hearing of an application for strike out in the data protection case of Pacini v Dow Jones before HHJ Parkes KC.

On 14 December 2023 there was a set aside application in the case of McGee v Lewis before Collins Rice J.

On 15 December 2023, as stated above, Fancourt J handed down judgement in favour of the claimants in the case of The Duke of Sussex and Ors v MGN Limited [2023] EWHC 3217 (Ch).

On the same day, there was a trial of a preliminary issue on meaning and comment in the libel case of Dyson v Channel 4 before HHJ Lewis.

Media law in other jurisdictions

Australia

On 14 December 2023, the Supreme Court of Victoria handed down judgement in the case of Hoser v Pelley [No 4] [2023] VSCA 319. At first instance, the court found that ten publications were defamatory of the respondent and awarded $179,000 in damages. On appeal, the court found that one of those publications was not defamatory and consequently granted a modest reduction in damages.

Canada

The Canadian House of Commons has adopted a unanimous motion calling for the release of pro-democracy campaigner and media entrepreneur, Jimmy Lai, who has been imprisoned in Hong Kong since 2020. Doughty Street published a statement which is available here.

Europe

DLA Piper has published a blog post examining the decision of the Court of Justice of the European Union in the Schufa case. The case concerned Schufa, a credit rating agency which produced a credit score, using automated decision making. The score was then relied upon by a financial institution. The court rejected Schufa’s argument that it bore no responsibility for the automated decision making, since it was the third-party who makes the relevant decision.

Pakistan

Internet users faced a nationwide internet disruption organised by the government in response to a virtual meeting held by the supporters of the former Prime Minister, Imran Khan party. Users reported being unable to access social media and slow internet service  Times of India and The Free Press Journal reported the story.

Research and Resources

Next week in the courts

On Monday 18 December 2023, there will be  applications in the case of KB-2023-001023 Piepenbrock v Michell and others before Tipples J.

On Tuesday 19 December 2023 there will be a summary judgment  application in the case of Sinton -v- Maybourne Hotels Ltd KB-2023-000257.

On the same day there will be a consequentials hearing in the case of LCG v OVD, QB-2022-000921

Reserved judgements

Dyson v Channel 4, heard 15 December 2023 (HHJ Lewis)

Pacini v Dow Jones, heard 13 December 2023 (HHJ Parkes KC)

Amersi v BBC, heard 8 December 2023 (HHJ Lewis)

Shafi v New Vision TV Limited and another, heard 4 December 2023 (Johnson J)

Wilson v Mendelsohn and others, heard 4 to 8 December 2023 (HHJ Parkes KC)

Blake v Fox, heard 21-24, 27 -30 November and 1 December 2023 (Collins Rice J)

Mueen-Uddin v Secretary of State for the Home Department, heard 1 and 2 November 2023 (Supreme Court).

George v Cannell and another, heard 17-18 October 2023 (Supreme Court)

Trump v Orbis Intelligence, head 16 October 2023 (Steyn J)

Harcombe v Associated Newspapers, heard 3 to 7 and 10 to 11 July 2023 (Nicklin J)

YSL v Surrey and Borders Partnership NHS Foundation Trust, heard 14-15 June 2023 (Julian Knowles J)

MBR Acres v FREE THE MBR BEAGLES, heard 24-28 April 2023, 2-5, 9, 11-12, 15, 17-18, 22-23 May 2023 (Nicklin J)

This Round Up was compiled by Jasleen Chaggar who is a litigation and media paralegal at Atkins Dellow