Hacked Off has an article examining what the UK General Election result shows about support for press reform. The Labour, Liberal Democrat, SNP, PC and Green Parties all have a history of supporting the Leveson recommendations and on 4 July 2024, they were handed an overwhelming majority. The LSE Media Policy Blog also has an article explaining what the different parties’ manifestos say about media reform.

The Privacy Perspective Blog has published its Top 10 Defamation Cases of 2023. The post continues the tradition, started in 2017, of presenting a selection of the most legally and factually interesting cases from England, Australia, Canada and New Zealand from the past year – with three “bonus” cases from the US.

Disabled activist Helen Timson is filing a claim against the former Conservative MP Dr Luke Evans for libel, discrimination, personal injury, and breaches of her data protection rights. Timson first contacted Evans for help during the Government’s appeal against her successful Judicial Review of the Department for Work and Pensions authorisation of water and energy companies taking money from people’s benefit payments. Timson described the communication with Dr Evans and his office as “threatening”. Dr Luke Evans denies any wrongdoing. The Canary has more information here.

Internet and Social Media

The European Commission has announced its preliminary findings that Meta’s so-called “pay or consent” or “pay or OK” model—which gives users a choice to either pay for access to its platforms or give consent to collect user data to target ads—is not compliant with the Digital Markets Act (DMA). The Commission found Meta’s advertising model violates the DMA in two ways. First, it does not allow users to opt for a service that uses less of their personal data but is otherwise equivalent to the ‘personalised ads-based service. Second, it does not allow users to exercise their right to freely consent to the combination of their personal data. ArsTechnia has more information here.

Data Privacy and Data Protection

The IAPP blog has an article on mental privacy and integrity, prompted by UNESCO’s global online consultation on the first draft of the Recommendation on the Ethics of Neurotechnology. UNESCO is seeking perspectives for the creation of an international comprehensive framework to address the challenges of neurotechnology while also maximizing its benefits. The deadline for submitting feedback is 12 July 2024.

Surveillance

The UK has made several consequential amendments to its primary electronic surveillance law, the Investigatory Powers Act 2016. These changes have the potential to impact the development of certain privacy-enhancing services by technology companies, whilst also widening the scope of the government’s access to certain electronic datasets. There is also the possibility of an impact on the UK’s ‘adequacy’ status under the EU GDPR. DLA Piper has more information here.

Newspapers Journalism and Regulation

Hacked Off has an article responding to The New European’s speculation that if “Starmer wins a majority of 218 or bigger”, he will have the power to amend the Royal Charter on the self-regulation of the press; the post explains why that claim is incorrect.

The LSE Media Policy project has an article that explores how ideals of impartial election coverage are undermined by the realities of politics and powerful interest groups.

Hacked Off has also published an article by historian Corinne Fowler, who details her experiences of press abuse in response to her academic research on Britain’s colonial history.

Events 

The Information Commissioner’s Office is holding the Data Protection Practitioners Conference on Tuesday 8 October 2024, online. The event will include keynote speakers, workshops and panels. Register for free here.

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

There were two defamation (libel and slander) appeals filed on the Media and Communications list last week.

Last Week in the Courts

On 1 July 2024, the trial begun in FKJ v RVT QB-2019-003948 before Linden J. The trial is set to finish this week.

On 2 July 2024, there was a hearing in Organista v Rodrigues QB-2021-003806.

On 3 July 2024, judgment was handed down by HHJ Parkes in the strike out application of Pacini & Anor v Dow Jones & Company Inc. [2024] EWHC 1709 (KB). The application was founded on the proposition that the claim was an abuse of process. The central issue was whether the Claimants were making use of a technically viable cause of action in data protection, where the claim is in reality a statute-barred defamation complaint disguised as a claim for data protection and brought under a false flag to avoid the rules that apply to defamation claims [55]. Wrapped up in that issue was the question of whether a claim for damage to reputation can be made in data protection proceedings [56] but that question is likely to need determination by the Court of Appeal [107]. There was also an alternative issue as to whether the claim is a form of Jameel abuse [57]. HHJ Parkes held that the Claimants cannot be summarily denied the chance to exercise their rights of erasure made available to them by s167 Data Protection Act 2018 and Art.17 UK GDPR simply because in the past they have repeatedly threatened to claim in defamation or because the claim is heavily based (as it is) on considerations of harm to reputation, or because, had they brought the claim in defamation it would have faced very difficult obstacles. That conclusion does not prevent Dow Jones from continuing to maintain at trial that this litigation is an abuse of process. It is impossible to say how the evidence in the case will appear to the court after disclosure and cross-examination [90]. It cannot be said that the claim has little prospect of success; the costs of the proceedings are unlikely to be disproportionate to the relief which the Claimants seek, meaning it would be wrong to strike out the claim summarily on Jameel grounds [118]. The Press Gazette’s coverage of the judgment can be read here.

On the same day, there was a hearing in the defamation case of Aslani v Sobierajska QB-2020-004166.

On 5 July 2024, Mellor J issued a Worldwide Freezing Order against computer scientist and businessman Craig Wright’s assets, Wright v McCormack (WFO Judgment) [2024] EWHC 1735 (KB). Wright’s assets were frozen to help podcast host and entrepreneur Peter McCormack, sued by Wright for libel in 2019, recoup roughly £1.5 million in legal fees.  The same judge had previously made a similar order against Wright in copyright proceedings ([2024] EWHC 743 (Ch)).

Media Law in Other Jurisdictions

Australia

Photos of Australian children have been included in the dataset used by several AI image-generating tools without the knowledge or consent of them or their families, research by Human Rights Watch has found. An analysis of less than 0.0001% of the 5.85bn images contained in the Laion-5B dataset, used by services such as Stable Diffusion creator Stability AI and Midjourney, found 190 photos of Australian children scraped from the internet. The Guardian has more information here.

Brazil

Data protection authority in Brazil has blocked Meta from training its AI models on Brazilian personal data, citing the risks of serious damage and difficulty to users. The decision follows an update to Meta’s privacy policy in which the social media granted itself permission to use public Facebook, Messenger, and Instagram data from Brazil including posts, images, and captions for AI training. The Paypers has more information here.

Canada

On 2 July 2024, the Ontario Superior Court of Justice issued its ruling involving the encampment at the University of Toronto, granting the University its requested order that can be used to remove the encampment, University of Toronto (Governing Council) v Doe et al. 2024 ONSC 3755. Under the order, protesters have to clear the encampment on penalty of the use of a full range of sanctions, including “physical enforcement of the order, prosecution for trespass, liability for contempt of court and the full range of disciplinary sanctions at the University.” The basis of the order lies in trespass with the court concluding that “there is ample judicial authority that says protesters have no right to set up camp on or otherwise occupy property that does not belong to them, no matter how much more effective their protest would be if they were able to do so.” The Michael Geist Blog has more information here.

Europe

On 1 July 2024, a new agreement between the EU and Japan facilitating data flows between the two jurisdictions entered into force. The Data Flow Agreement will be incorporated into the text of the EU-Japan Economic Partnership Agreement. The Privacy and Information Law Blog has more information here.

Research and Resources

Next Week in the Courts 

On Monday 8 July 2024 Steyn J will hear an application by the defendant in the case of Parish v Wikimedia Foundation, KB-2024-000622.

On the same day Aidan Eardley KC will hear a pre-trial review in the case of Hibbert v Hall, KB-2023-002102.

On Wednesday 10 July 2024 there will be an approval hearing in the case of Idris Egal (a Protected Party by Sara Adan his Litigation Friend) v The Home Office QB-2021-002627.

On Thursday 11 July 2024 and Friday 12 July 2024 there will be a hearing in Hemming v Poulton QB-2020-003558/KB-2023-002707. 

Friday – RBT v YLA KB-2024-001672 – Return date

Reserved Judgments

Dowding v The Character Group PLC 19 and 20 June 2024 (Richard Spearman KC)

Codnor v Thorpe,  17 June 2024 (Richard Spearman KC).

Hawrami v Journalism Development Network Inc and others, 17 June 2024 (Steyn J)

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

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).