The High Court in Belfast has struck out the libel claim brought by former IRA member, Gerry Kelly, against writer Malachi O’Doherty in relation to two 2019 interviews in which he alleged that the claimant had shot a police officer in the head during the 1983 Maze prison escape.

The court held that the claim was “scandalous, frivolous and vexatious.” Although Mr Kelly was found not guilty of shooting the officer in a 1987 trial, the content of his books – Master Evan Bell held – “makes it extremely difficult, if not impossible, for him to rebut the argument that he was not a joint tortfeasor in respect of the battery” [56]. The claim was characterised as a SLAPP that was initiated to intimidate Kelly’s critics. Read the judgement here. The BBC, Guardian, The Irish News, ITVX, The Irish Times, Slugger O’Toole reported on the ruling.

The scheme giving accredited reporters access to the family courts will expand to a further 16 family courts, following a successful pilot launch. Before this scheme, journalists could only report on family hearings with the permission of the court, but they will now be able to report the content of hearings, including quotes from family members, provided the parties are kept anonymous. The Press Gazette, BBC and Bureau of Investigative Journalism covered the story.

The final tranches of documents were released from Virginia Giuffre’s 2015 defamation case following their unsealing last week, including the depositions of Epstein, Maxwell and Giuffre. The depositions revealed that Epstein refused to answer questions, pleading the Fifth Amendment more than 500 times. It was revealed that one accuser, Sarah Ransome, claimed to have seen videos of victims filmed by Epstein. The claim was initially retracted, before being reiterated in a TV interview this week. More information is available from the BBC, the Independent, ABC, NBC, Sky News and the Daily Mail.

The Brett Wilson Media Law Blog published an article analysing the recent judgement of HHJ Lewis in the case of Iqbal v GEO TV Ltd [2023] EWHC 3024 (KB).

Internet and Social Media

Research conducted by the communications company Fenimore Harper found that over 100 deepfake adverts depicting Rishi Sunak were promoted to an estimated 400,000 social media users in the last month, the Guardian reports. Despite the deep fakes breaching Facebook’s policies, more than £12,900 was spent by actors originating from 23 countries to promote the videos. The images mark the first time that Sunak’s image has been modified on this scale and have raised concerns about the approaching general election. Read the full report here.

Data privacy and data protection

The food delivery company, Hello Fresh, has been fined £140,000 by the ICO for breaching regulations on marketing messages. The company sent 79 million spam emails and 1 million spam texts to customers over a period of 7 months. The ICO investigation found that customers were not fully aware that they were opting in to receive messages via text and that the company continued to contact some individuals even once they had requested to stop receiving communications. Read the ICO’s press release here.

Surveillance

An investigation by the Glasgow Guardian found over 40 CCTV cameras made by Hikvision, the Chinese state-owned surveillance company, in a Glasgow University building. Hikvision cameras have been banned by the US government since 2019 and have been criticised for their alleged role in mass surveillance of the Uyghurs in China.

Newspaper Journalism and regulation

Former Cabinet Minister Chris Huhne published his account of phone hacking by News Group, in this Hacked Off article, following the settlement of his claim against the media company last December. Huhne asserts that phone-hacking was pursued not only for journalistic purposes, but also “to target political figures who were unsympathetic” to the news organisation and “gather intelligence from the heart of government in order to further News’ objectives.”

IPSO

Statements in open court and apologies

We are not aware of any statements in open court or apologies in the last week.

New Issued cases

There was one new defamation (libel and slander) case issue in the Media and Communications List this week.

Last week in the courts

We are not aware of any media law cases that were heard last week.

Media law in other jurisdictions

Albania

Several media freedom organisations, including the International Press Institute, Reporters without Borders and the Media Freedom Rapid Response, have written a letter to the Special Prosecution against Corruption and Organised Crime (SPAK) raising concerns over SPAK’s attempts to get journalist, Elton Qyno, to reveal his sources by seizing his professional equipment, pressuring him and inspecting his home and office. Qyno’s reporting related to SPAK’s ‘golden bullet’ investigation, which targeted four criminal groups. Read the full letter here.

Canada

The Court of Appeal for British Columbia dismissed the defendants’ appeal and allowed the plaintiff’s appeal, in part, in the case of Rooney v Galloway 2024 BCCA 8. The underlying claim concerns allegations repeated online by a number of defendants accusing Mr Galloway, a novelist and former tenured professor, of sexually and physically assaulting a former graduate student. The court held that the judge did not err in concluding that she could dismiss limited aspects of the claim against certain appellants whilst allowing other parts of the claim to proceed under s. 4 of the Protection of Public Participation Act.

China

DLA Piper has published an article reflecting on developments in data protection law in China in 2023. The Cyberspace Administration of China prioritised the regulation of cross-border data transfers. Looking ahead, it suggests that regulator’s focus for 2024 will be on wider data compliance requirements, beyond merely harmonising data compliance across regions.

Israel

Israel’s Supreme Court rejected an appeal by the Foreign Press Association (FPA) in Jerusalem to grant journalists and media workers independent access to report in Gaza, citing security concerns. The FPA called the ban “unprecedented” and the International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) has called on Israel to allow foreign media to enter Gaza.

Somaliland

The headquarters of MM Somali TV were raided by security forces who assaulted journalists, damaged broadcast equipment and shut down a televised debate. The raid was reportedly in response to concerns about the debate on relations between Ethiopia and Somaliland following the signing of a memorandum of understanding between the countries at the start of the year. The debate was due to take place on the recent memorandum of understanding signed between Ethiopia and Somaliland, which has sparked diplomatic tensions and public outcry. The IFJ has called for the immediate release of the journalists who are being kept in custody. Daily Nation and Horn Observer covered the story.

United States

The trial to determine the damages owed to writer, E Jean Carroll by Donald Trump is set to begin on Tuesday 16 January 2024 in New York. In 2023, Trump was found by a jury to have sexually assaulted Carroll and defamed her by calling the claims a hoax and accusing her of lying. Judge Kaplan ruled that, given this ruling, Trump cannot argue that he did not rape Carroll in the mid-1990s. Next week’s trial will be restricted to the issues of whether his statements were defamatory and what damages should be awarded. The Independent, the Guardian, Reuters, The Washington Post and the New York Times covered the story.

The Federal Trade Commission has issued a landmark ban on the sale of sensitive location data against data broker Outlogic (and its predecessor X-Mode Social). The company is alleged to have sold precise location data which could be used to identify locations that consumers had visited, including medical facilities, reproductive health centres, places of worship, mental health facilities, addition recovery centres and temporary shelters. Read the FTC’s Press Release here. More information is available from the Independent, Politico and the Hunton Privacy Blog.

Research and Resources

Next week in the courts

On Tuesday 16 January 2024, there will be a pre-trial review in the case of  Griffin v North Cumbria.

On Wednesday 17 January 2024, there will be an anonymity application in the case of McEwen v MOD and a (without notice) injunction application in the case of HMRC v Milton.

On Thursday 18 January 2024, there will be an application in the data protection case of Sutton v Currys.

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 (UK Supreme Court).

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

Trump v Orbis Intelligence, heard 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