Prince Harry and former Labour deputy leader Tom Watson are the only remaining claimants pursuing legal action against News Group Newspapers (NGN) in their unlawful information gathering claim.

At a CMC on 15 November 2024 before the managing judge, Fancourt J, it was revealed that 39 cases have been settled since July and the trial of the remaining claims will be heard in January 2025.  The Judge ruled that there was “sufficient justification” for a limited number of emails sent between NGN employees and employees of the Royal Household to be disclosed, despite objections by the defendant that they were not relevant to the pleaded issues. The BBC, Guardian, Reuters, Sky News, Times of India, GB News and Press Gazette reported on the hearing.

President-elect Donald Trump has filed defamation claims against several news companies and publishers, including the New York Times, Daily Beast, Penguin Random House and CBS, alleging that they published false and defamatory statements about him and seeking billions of dollars in damages. The Columbia Journalism Review analysed a letter from Trump’s lawyer to the New York Times and Penguin Random House, which specified two stories relating to the book ‘Lucky Loser: How Donald Trump Squandered His Father’s Fortune and Created the Illusion of Success’ as “falsely and maliciously defaming and disparaging” of Trump.

The president-elect also accused CBS News of “election interference” in relation to an allegation that its interview with Kamala Harris on 7 October was edited, and accused the company of “malicious, deceptive and substantial news distortion.” CBS denied the claims as “completely without merit” and committed to defending the claim. Several organisations, including the Committee to Protect Journalists and Reporters without Borders have warned about the risks that Trump’s second term might pose to media freedom. The Guardian, The Independent, The New York Sun and Advanced Television covered the story.

US band, the White Stripes, have dropped their copyright infringement claim against Donald Trump in relation to his use of their song, Seven Nation Army, in a campaign video posted in August. After the campaign video was posted, bandmember Jack White posted on Instagram saying, “Oh….Don’t even think about using my music you fascists. Law suit coming from my lawyers about this,” however the case has now been dismissed without prejudice. The Guardian, Pitchfork, NME and Daily Mail reported the development.

The LSE Media Blog has an article on the problem of misinformation and how we can mitigate its impacts by teaching people how it is created and spread.

Internet and Social Media

The European Commission has fined Meta €798 million (£664 million) for violating competition laws by embedding Facebook Marketplace within its social network, creating unfair trading conditions for rival classified ads services. The Commission also ordered Meta to cease these practices. Meta rejected the findings, claiming the decision lacked evidence of harm to competitors or consumers and announced plans to appeal. The ruling follows a 2021 investigation prompted by complaints from Meta’s rivals. BBC, CNN, WSJ, FT, Politico, Daily Mail, AP News and Al Jazeera covered the ruling.

The Guardian has joined scores of other individuals and companies who have left X, after its editor-in-chief, Katharine Viner, told staff that under Elon Musk’s ownership, the service had become “a toxic media platform” that plays “a diminished role in promoting our work.” Guardian journalists will continue to be able to use the platform as a reporting tool and to post content but are discouraged from embedding tweets in articles. The Press Gazette, Forbes, Reuters, London Evening Standard, Politico and The Independent reported on the departure.

Data privacy and data protection

The ICO has approved a code of conduct published by the Private Investigator industry. Article 40 of the UK GDPR permits organisations to create codes of conduct which relate to certain data protection issues that are pertinent to their sector. In the case of private investigators, there are particular concerns with protecting the privacy rights of data subjects. The code has specific guidance to help the sector to identify the correct lawful basis for covert surveillance and monitoring. Read the code here.

The ICO also published a joint statement with the Financial Conduct Authority and The Pension Regulator to provide further guidance for retail investment firms and pension providers about how direct marketing rules interact with the data protection regime. In short, these firms are permitted to send regulatory communication messages to their customers, in line with their compliance duties, so long as they also comply with data protection law.

Surveillance

MPs debated the use of facial recognition technology by the police in the first Westminster Hall debate on this topic. Several MPs raised concerns about the lack of legislation governing the use of the technology in addition to concerns about privacy, accuracy, discrimination, bias and constant surveillance. The Policing Minister, Diana Johnson, committed to holding a series of roundtables with regulators and civil society groups before the end of the year to inform the government’s approach. The Mirror, Computer Weekly and Biometric Update covered the debate.

Newspaper Journalism and regulation

A New York judge dismissed one of the first copyright lawsuits brought by news publishers, AlterNet and Raw Story, against OpenAI. The news outlets alleged that OpenAI used “thousands” of their articles in training ChatGPT without permission, stripping them of authorship, titles, and copyright information, and sought damages. However, the US District Judge ruled that the plaintiffs failed to demonstrate their content was copyrighted or that specific copyrighted material was used, rejecting the complaint in its entirety. The Press Gazette, Wired, Reuters and Bloomberg News reported on the ruling.

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 no new claims filed on the media and communication list last week.

Last week in the courts

Between Monday 11 November  and Friday 15 November 2024, Collins Rice J heard the trial in the case of RTM v Bonne Terre Limited and another KB-2023-000775.  Judgment was reserved.

On Monday 11 November 2024, there were trials of preliminary issues in the cases of Vince v Tice (KB-2024- 001681) and Vince v Staines (KB-2024-001676) before Pepperall J. Ecotricity founder, Dale Vince brought a defamation claim against Reform MP, Richard Tice MP and editor-in-chief of Guido Fawkes, Paul Staines, for alleging that he supports the terror group Hamas on X and in articles, respectively. The accusations related to comments made by Mr Vince during a Times Radio interview last October, in which he stated that “one man’s freedom fighter is another man’s terrorist” in the context of a longer discussion. Vince argues that his words were “fatally distorted and readers have been misled.” The Independent and The Irish News covered the hearing.

Vince has also brought a claim against Lord Bailey for similar comments made on GB News, which continued on Tuesday 12 November 2024 (KB-2024-001788).    This was originally listed for the defendant’s summary judgment application on the basis that the defences of “honest opinion” and “truth” were bound to succeed.   The trial of a preliminary issue on meaning was heard at the same time although there was a dispute as to whether this should be extended to the interpretation of Mr Vince’s comments during the Time Radio Interview.  Judgment on these issue was also reserved.

On Thursday 14 November 2024, the trial in University and College Union v Person(s) Unknown KB-2024-003440 returned.

On Friday 15 November 2024 there was a CMC in Various Claimants v News Group before the managing judge, Fancourt J. On the same day there was a hearing of a renewed application for permission to appeal in the case of Lyles v Mullen KA-2024-000111.

Media law in other jurisdictions

Australia

The District Court of South Australia handed down judgement in the case of Trasente, D.J. Developments PTY Limited v Mccreight [2024] SADC 149. The respondent sought to strike out or summarily dismiss part of the applicants’ defamation claim on the basis that the applicants did not give the required notice before initiating proceedings. The court dismissed the respondent’s application, as it raised issues which were not suitable for summary determination.

Canada

On 12 November, the Court of King’s Bench of Alberta handed down judgement in RK v GSG, 2024 ABKB 661. The claim concerned allegations that the defendants engaged in a prolonged conspiracy to cause harm to the plaintiff through defamatory actions, malicious prosecution and false regulatory complaints after their business and personal relationship had soured. The plaintiff sought to extensively amend the Statement of Claim following a ruling that certain causes of action against the defendants would be struck out. The judge assessed each proposed amendment on a case-by-case basis [paras 28-70] and permitted 28 amendments to the Statement of Claim.

Denmark

An Amnesty International report titled ‘Coded Injustice: Surveillance and Discrimination in Denmark’s Automated Welfare State’ concluded that the use of an AI tool to flag individuals for social benefits fraud investigations by the Danish welfare authority risks discriminating against low-income individuals, those with disabilities, refugees and ethnic minorities. The fraud detection algorithms make use of the personal data from public databases of millions of Danish residents, which Amnesty International argues is neither necessary nor proportionate. The algorithm also predicts an individual’s family or relationship status to detect “unusual” or “atypical” living patterns and processes data related to “foreign affiliation.” Read the press release here and the full report here.

European Court of Human Rights

The ECtHR held that there had been a violation of the Article 10 free expression rights of the publisher of the Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday in relation to success fees, but not in relation to the ATE premiums in the case of Associated Newspapers Limited v UK (Application No. 37398/21).  The CFA claim related to a case brought by a suspect in the Manchester Arena 2017 terror attack who was never charged but who was named by the newspaper and won damages for breach of privacy in 2021. The newspaper was ordered to pay 90% of the claimant’s costs for the parts of the action that proceeded to trial, including a success fee. The ATE claim concerned a claim brought by a clinical psychologist who was reported by the Mail on Sunday to have given credibility to false accusations of historic sexual abuse. The claimant settled the claim for £709,095.15, which included the cost of the ATE premium. The applicant media company argued that “threat of such liabilities was plainly capable of discouraging the participation of the press in debates over matters of legitimate concern” and therefore violated its article 10 rights.

Applying the ratio set out in MGN Limited (no. 39401/04) that the recoverability of success fees is disproportionate to the legitimate aims of the CFA regime, the ECtHR held that requiring Associated Newspapers to pay the claimant’s costs, which included success fees, was disproportionate, noting that the nature of the newsgathering was not “so extreme” as to justify departing from the general rule [89-95]. The UK government was ordered to pay 15,000 EUR in respect of costs and expenses to Associated Newspapers. On the issue of ATE premiums, the ECtHR found that the obligation for the media defendant to pay the ATE premiums was not disproportionate, since it “has the potential to offer considerable benefits to successful defendants who wish to recover their costs [99-101]. The Press Gazette, The Guardian, The Law Society Gazette and Byline Times covered the ruling.

Maldives

An independent MP has introduced a new bill to Parliament which would create a new combined ‘Maldives Media and Broadcasting Commission,’ with the power to impose fines, withhold media licenses and require formal apologies from journalists and news organisations. The Commission is proposed to be comprised of seven members, four of whom are to be appointed by the Maldivian president. Media freedom organisations and journalists have expressed concerns at the proposed legislation which they suggest would lead to “undue government influence on freedom of media and journalists.” More information is available from the International Federation of Journalists.

United States

A New York Federal Court has set the date for the retrial of the defamation claim brought by former Alaska governor, Sarah Palin, against the New York Times as 14 April 2025. The politician was given permission to appeal the jury’s verdict due to errors made during the first trial, which meant that evidence about the head of the NYT’s editorial board was excluded. Palin argued that this evidence would help prove that the newspaper acted with actual malice. The claim concerns a 2017 editorial, which accused Palin of inciting a mass shooting in 2011 which killed 6 people. ABC News, Reuters, CNN, Politico and Law 360 have more information.

Research and Resources

Next week in the courts

On Monday 18 and Tuesday 19 November, there will be a two-day trial before HHJ Parkes KC in the defamation case of Miller v Peake QB-2022-001106.

On Wednesday 20 November, there will be a hearing in the case of Aboyami v Kings College London & Aboyami v CIFAS. On the same day, the court will hear an application in the case of Centreview Partners v Ajikawo KB-2024-002080.

On Thursday 21 November, there will be an application in the case of Chirkunov v Persons Unknown KB-2024-002814.

Reserved judgements

RTM v Bonne Terre Limited and another, heard 11 to 15 November 2024 (Collins Rice J )

Vince v Bailey, heard 11-12 November 2024 (Pepperall J)

Vince v Tice and Vince v Staines heard 11 November 2024 (Pepperall J)

Salman Iqbal v Geo TV Limited, heard 5 November 2024 (Underhill LJ, Dingemans LJ and Warby LJ)

Secretary of State for Education v Marples, 4 November 2024, (Sir Peter Lane)

Prismall v Google UK Ltd, heard 22 October 2024 (Sharp P, Nicola Davies and Dingemans LJJ).

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 an advocacy advisor at Big Brother Watch.