The UK government has announced a further crackdown on social media firms and AI amid concerns about harmful content targeted at children.

The Prime Minister’s office stated that the government will act “at pace” to protect children online, including steps that might see new age restrictions on social media and strengthened duties on AI chatbots, with a formal consultation process underway. The Financial Times and Reuters have more information.

Bret Wilson Partner Ian Wilson has explained to Tatler how the recent accusations levied by Brooklyn Beckham at his parents via instagram demonstrate social media’s uniquely damaging impact on reputations. Social media posts are by their nature raw ‘source’ material. This can be contrasted with press stories that are often based on rumour and conjecture, and will be taken with a pinch of salt.’ Raw material carries a sense of authenticity. Audiences are more inclined to believe words that appear unedited and spontaneous. As a result, Wilson argues long-form Instagram statements and emotional captions can shape public opinion faster than any headline.

The Cyberleagle blog has an article on extraterritoriality and the transatlantic free speech warsprompted by the US House Judiciary Committee action last week that took aim at the European Commission (who rejected its latest interim report as ‘pure nonsense’) and provoked EU civil society groups in the process. The next, heavily trailed, US counterstrike may be legislative: a federal ‘GRANITE Act’ Bill. The article considers what a federal GRANITE Bill could look like and the impact of the different directions it could take.

The UK Constitutional Law Blog has an article on habeas corpus and the arrest of Palestine Action protestors. Although several individuals currently remanded were arrested before the proscription of Palestine Action, as of December 2025, twenty-nine Palestine Action protestors are in prison. All were remand prisoners and not convicted. Six are currently being tried and seven were on hunger strike, demanding immediate bail. Four Prisoners were remanded since November 2024 for non terrorism-related offences to the Elbit Systems site in Bristol. As of January 2026, they have been held on remand, without bail, for thirteen months. Their trial is not due to start until April 2026. Another four have been remanded since July 2025, some six months’ remand, for damage to Aircraft at RAF Brize Norton, with a trial due to be held in January 2027. The article argues that these arrests demonstrate that fundamental legal concepts like the right to fair trial, the right to protest and the right to preservation of liberty are under assault.

The trial in the case of Baroness Lawrence and ors v Associated Newspapers Ltd  continues before Nicklin J this week. Hacked Off has coverage of last week’s developments here, here, and here.

Internet and Social Media

The LSE Media Blog has an article on the Grok scandal, calling it a wake‑up call for children’s rights, privacy, and online safety.

The European Commission set in motion this week its action plan against cyberbullying with three pillars of action: a coordinated EU approach largely based on leveraging the existing legal framework; prevention and awareness; and reporting and support. The action plan joins the Digital Services Act and Artificial Intelligence Act, which already exist to support the fight against cyberbullying. The IAPP blog has more information here.

Data Privacy and Data Protection

The charity Oxfam has publicly declared its refusal to provide Israel with sensitive personal details of its Palestinian staff operating in Gaza. This decision comes as Israel intensifies its scrutiny of humanitarian organizations, demanding extensive information from groups providing crucial aid in Gaza, the occupied West Bank, and occupied East Jerusalem. The charity asserts that complying with Israel’s request would violate fundamental humanitarian principles, duty of care obligations, and data protection standards. The Avenda Times has more information here.

Guernsey’s Data Protection Authority (ODPA) has sanctioned First Contact Health after it failed to implement sufficient security measures to prevent a phishing attack. The cybersecurity breach saw fraudsters successfully target an employee’s email account, gaining access to confidential health data at the medical practice. ITVx has more information here.

Art, Music and Copyright

IPKat has an article that rethinks creative fairness under the UK’s new automated decision-making rules as the Data (Use and Access) Act (DUAA) 2025‘s deadline approaches for the Secretary of State to publish the economic impact assessment of options raised in the AI and Copyright Consultation’ such as licensing, opt-out and transparency measures.

Newspapers, Journalism and Regulation

Hacked Off has republished a blog post from Dr Tom Mills on the conspiracy of silence from the BBC and the rest of the news media over Mandelson’s relationship with Epstein. Read his findings and conclusions 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 was one Defamation (libel and slander) claim filed last week.

Last Week in the Courts

The trial in the case of Baroness Lawrence and ors v Associated Newspapers Ltd KB-2022-003316 continued all week before Nicklin J.

On Monday 9 February, the application for an interim injunction was refused by Aiden Eardley KC in Read v Claudio di Giovanni & Ors [2026] EWHC 243 (KB). The claim is for libel, malicious falsehood and harassment. The Claimant contends that the Defendants are responsible for blackmail threats, culminating in the malicious publication of false and defamatory statements about her on a website set up for that purpose. Eardley made the point that his conclusion on the interim application does not mean that the claim will fail at trial as the Claimant has been the victim of a particularly nasty blackmail [70]. She may be able to establish entitlement to substantial damages and, perhaps, a final injunction once the particulars of claim are fully established.

On Wednesday 11 February 2026, there were hearings in the defamation cases of Veolia ES (UK) Limited & Ors v. Unite The Union & Anr KB-2025-002444 and Ali v Hussain KB-2024-000959.

On Wednesday 11 February 2026, Collins Rice J heard the first application brought before the High Court under CPR 3.4(2)(d) to strike out a claim as a SLAPP. The application was brought by the Defendants in the case of Setu Kamal v (1) Tax Policy Associates Ltd & (2) Daniel Neidle, alongside other strike out applications and an application for summary judgment in respect of honest opinion. 5RB has more information here.

Also on 11 February, Collins Rice J handed down judgment on meaning in a libel claim brought by Stephen Belafonte against Newsgroup Newspapers, the publishers of The Sun, Belafonte v News Group Newspapers Ltd [2026] EWHC 273 (KB). Collins Rice found that the article meant that: the Claimant is guilty of having harassed Ms Brown in the USA; and, there are grounds to suspect that, during a subsequent visit to the UK, the Claimant: (a) caused a drone to be flown over Ms Brown’s home; and (b) caused a process-server to visit her unnecessarily; and there are accordingly grounds to suspect the Claimant of harassing Ms Brown in the UK in these circumstances. 5RB has more information here.

On Thursday 12 February 2026, there was a hearing in the defamation case of Amunyela and another v Ndeendelago Ashfield KB-2025-004603.

Media Law in Other Jurisdictions

Australia

Following an investigation into the use of facial recognition technology in a small trial group of Bunnings retail stores over a three to four year period, the privacy commissioner had contended that Bunnings contravened several sections of the Australia Privacy Act — namely Australian Privacy Principles 1.2, 1.3, 3.3 and 5.1. The ruling shows the regulatory regime of Australia’s privacy ecosystem in action.

 The IAPP blog has more information on the ruling and its ramifications here.

Canada

The Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada has added neural data among the types of personal information that will generally be considered sensitive and require a higher degree of protection. This week, the OPC updated its Interpretation Bulletin on Sensitive Information under the Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act, which consolidates court decisions and OPC findings on what counts as sensitive personal information and what that means for consent and safeguards. The IAPP has more information here.

Europe

The Court of Justice of the European Union has ruled Meta can continue its litigation against the European Data Protection Board’s decision to enforce a €225 million fine. The ruling paves the way for Meta to more easily challenge billions of euros worth of EU GDPR fines while setting precedent for other companies to more easily litigate penalties of their own. IAPP has more information here.

The European Data Protection Board and European Data Protection Supervisor released their highly-anticipated joint opinion on the European Commission’s Digital Omnibus proposal. The opinion, adopted 10 February 2026, identifies several areas where both the EDPB and EDPS are in favor of changes the Omnibus would make to marquee EU digital regulations, such as the EU GDPR, the ePrivacy Directive and others. However, both bodies detail several other provisions contained in the Omnibus they believe the Commission must reevaluate. IAPP has more information here.

India

The IAPP blog has an article that situates India’s evolving approach to children’s data in comparative perspective to other jurisdictions.

South Korea

On 12 February 2026, South Korea’s National Assembly passed amendments to the Personal Information Protection Act authorizing administrative fines of up to 10% of a company’s total revenue in certain high-severity data breach cases. The changes follow a series of large-scale data breaches across the telecommunications, platform and financial services sectors. The Privacy and Information Security Law Blog has more information here.

United States

The Department of Homeland Security is expanding its efforts to identify Americans who oppose Immigration and Customs Enforcement by sending tech companies legal requests for the names, email addresses, telephone numbers and other identifying data behind social media accounts that track or criticize the agency. In recent months, Google, Reddit, Discord and Meta have received hundreds of administrative subpoenas from the Department of Homeland Security, according to four government officials and tech employees privy to the requests. They spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly. Google, Meta and Reddit complied with some of the requests, the government officials said. The New York Times has more information here.

California’s Attorney General has announced his office reached the largest California Consumer Privacy Act settlement to date, a US$2.75 million penalty and corrective measures to Disney over claims of CCPA opt-out requirement noncompliance. The IAPP blog has more information here. The Privacy and Information Security Law Blog has more information here.

New research from New York University finds that US patients’ medical notes, stripped of names and other sensitive identifiers, can expose patients to re-identification. By training AI language models on a large corpus of real world, uncensored patient records, identity-defining details remain – in some cases allowing a patient’s neighborhood to be inferred from diagnosis alone. The new study places this risk in the context of a lucrative market in de-identified health data, where hospitals and data brokers routinely sell or license scrubbed clinical notes to pharmaceutical firms, insurers, and AI developers. UniteAI has more information here.

Research and Resources

Next Week in the Courts

As mentioned above, the trial in the case of Baroness Lawrence and ors v Associated Newspapers Ltd KB-2022-003316  continues before Nicklin J this week.

There will also be hearings in the cases of Feldman v Gambling Commission KB-2024-003588  and Vuba Chemical Innovations Limited and another v Devall KB-2026-000293

Reserved Judgments

Various Claimants v MGN, heard 27-30 January 2026, 3, 5 and 6 February 2026 (Fancourt J)

Colette Allen is the host of Newscast on Dr Thomas Bennett and Professor Paul Wragg’s The Media Law Podcast (@MediaLawPodcast).