A letter co-ordinated by the Anti-SLAPP Coalition to Justice Secretary Alex Chalk seeks an amendment to the anti-SLAPP bill making its way through Parliament. The letter, signed by editors from publishers like The Times, Guardian and Daily Mail, requests that an objective test be used to determine the intent of the claimant, rather than the subjective test currently proposed.

The letter argues a subjective test is “notoriously difficult, time-intensive, expensive and uncertain process that would undermine the effective operation of the protections the law provides”. Read the National Union of Journalists summary here. The Press Gazette has more information here. The Media Law Podcast responds to the letter in its latest Newscast episode.

On 5 April 2024 Deputy High Court Judge Richard Spearman KC made an order rejecting all applications made by controversial YouTuber Adil Raja and found that Raja had published statements which were seriously defamatory of Rashid Naseer in nine publications on the social media sites YouTube, Facebook and X (formerly Twitter). Raja has been ordered to pay £5,000 and a further interim payment on account of costs. The International News, Tribune and 24 News have more information

On Monday 8 April 2024, charges against press photographer Dimitris Legakis, who was arrested while covering a police incident in Swansea in 2023, were dropped one day before the jury trial was due to begin. Legakis was charged with obstructing or resisting a police officer. Through his lawyer, Legakis said this case raised “legitimate questions about the freedom of the press”. The Press Gazette and Wales Online have more information.

Internet and Social Media

An examination by The New York Times found companies used online resources to train their artificial intelligence systems, including content such as YouTube videos, photos, podcasts and movie clips. The AI training practices have raised privacy concerns after some companies used copyrighted material and user data from social media to support AI models.

OpenAI, Google and Mistral released updates to their artificial intelligence models within hours of each other after Meta announced the upcoming release of the third version of its Llama AI model, the Guardian reports.

Data Privacy and Data Protection

The UK government has published updated versions of the Keeling Schedules to track changes that the Data Protection and Digital Information Bill would make to existing laws if/when it comes into force. Mishcon de Reya blog has more information here.

The Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) is seeking public input on how accurate training data impacts generative artificial intelligence models. The idea is to prevent people from getting misinformation when AI hallucinates or has incorrect information. The comment window closes 10 May 2024.

Surveillance

Privacy International joins the #ProtectNotSurveil coalition in calling out the EU’s New Pact on Migration and Asylum voted on 10 April 2024, a package of reforms expanding the criminalisation and digital surveillance of migrants. More information on the PI website.

IPSO

Statements in Open Court and Apologies

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

New Issued Cases

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

Last Week in the Courts

On Tuesday 9 April 2024, judgment on preliminary issues was handed down in Amersi v British Broadcasting Corporation [2024] EWHC 774 (KB). The claim related to an episode of Panorama and an article posted on the BBC website from October 2021. Held, both the Panorama episode and article bore the same meaning, namely that there are strong grounds for suspecting that, during his work for Telia (a Swedish telecommunications company), Mr Amersi had been involved in deals on its behalf which he knew or should have known were corrupt, or involved corrupt payments. The parties agreed, and the Judge held, that this meaning was defamatory of Mr Amersi at common law. 5RB, Variety and The Press Gazette have more information.

On Wednesday 10 April 2024 there were hearings in the cases of Jones Nickolds ltd v Ian Robert Pearce KB-2024-000886 and Specialty Coffee Association Ltd v Elizabeth Odushola KB-2023-002556.

On Thursday 11 April 2024 there were hearings in the cases of Prospect v Evans KB-2024-00030 and McGee v Lewis KB-2023-002435.

On Friday 12 April 2024 there was a contempt hearing in the case of Aslani v Sobierajska KB-2020-004166.

Media Law in Other Jurisdictions

Australia

On Monday 8 April 2024, judgment will be delivered in the long-awaited decision in the defamation case brought by former Liberal staffer Bruce Lehrmann against Network Ten and journalist Lisa Wilkinson. At the time of writing, judgment has not been handed down. ABC News has continuous coverage and sets out what is at stake for each party.

Canada

On 8 April 2024, the Supreme Court of British Columbia dismissed a counterclaim brought under the Protection of Public Participation Act, S.B.C. 2019, c. 3 (the “PPPA”) in a nuisance and privacy claim relating to drone footage. The PPPA protects expression on matters of public interest from being excessively chilled by the threat of litigation arising out of that expression. The court held that it did not have the jurisdiction under the PPPA to dismiss the Counterclaim. It held that flying a drone on, over or around the property of other persons and filming them is not itself communication and therefore not “expression” as the PPPA defines it. The law of what people are allowed to do with their drones in the vicinity of other people’s property is undeveloped and the Counterclaim raises reasonable issues in this regard. Whether those issues amount to a successful lawsuit is for another judge on another occasion.

France

France’s data protection authority CNIL has issued its first set of recommendations for using artificial intelligence technologies while ensuring the protection of personal data. The European Data Protection Digest has more information here.

United States

On 11 April 2024, the Colorado Court of Appeals found that Section 230 immunity applied to two retweets from Donald Trump and his son about a Dominion Voting employee that said he was going to make sure Trump would not win the 2020 election, Coomer v Donald J. Trump for President, Inc., — P.3d —, 2024 WL 1560462 (Colo. Ct. App.) Section 230 shields users of interactive computer services from liability arising from information provided by third parties. The facts of the case showed that both President Trump and Eric Trump simply retweeted a Gateway Pundit article and One America Network article without adding any new defamatory content. The case supports the proposition that defendants could repost verbatim content that someone else generated – even with knowledge that the content is defamatory – and not face liability. The Evan Law blog has more information here.

Research and Resources

Next Week in the Courts 

On Monday 15 April 2024, there will be an injunction application in Stone & Ceramic Limited (CN. 030725144) and others v Parker KB-2024-000833.

On Wednesday 17 April 2024, there will be a costs hearing in Payone v Logo KB-2023-002134.

On Thursday 18 April 2024 there will be an application for permission in relation to a committal in HM Solicitor General v Warner KB-2023-004710.

Reserved Judgments

Harrison v Cameron, heard 26 March 2024 (Steyn J)

BW Legal Services Limited v Trustpilot,  heard 7 March 2024 (HHJ Lewis)

Unity Plus Healthcare Limited v Clay and others,  heard 1 March 2024 (HHJ Lewis)

Parsons v Atkinson, heard 26 and 27 February 2024 (Farbey J)

Vince v Associated Newspapers, heard 19 February 2024 (HHJ Lewis)

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

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

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)

Harcombe v Associated Newspapers, heard 3 to 7 and 10 to 11 July 2023 (Nicklin 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 Colette Allen who is the host of Newscast on Dr Thomas Bennett and Professor Paul Wragg’s The Media Law Podcast (@MediaLawPodcast).