On Wednesday 15 July 2026, the Court of Appeal (Vos MR, Warby LJ and Whipple LJ) handed down judgement in the appeal of Vince v ANL [2026] EWCA Civ 899. Eco entrepreneur, Dale Vince brought a defamation and subsequent data protection claim against Associated Newspapers in relation to the publication of an article which juxtaposed his photograph with a headline referring to a “sex pest” Labour donor, despite the article itself relating to another individual.

In the High Court, HHJ Lewis struck out the defamation proceedings on the basis that they disclosed no reasonable cause of action. Permission to appeal the defamation judgement was refused. Prior to HHJ Lewis’s judgement, Vince brought data protection proceedings, arguing that the processing of his data was unfair. Swift J (i) struck out Vince’s subsequent data protection claim as an abuse of process and (ii) entered summary judgement for ANL. Vince appealed Swift J’s decision.

Delivering the unanimous judgement of the Court of Appeal, Sir Geoffrey Vos, Master of the Rolls held that Vince was not abusing the court process by pursuing his fair processing claim, since it was advanced from the beginning [53-55]. The Court granted Vince summary judgement in relation to his data processing claim on the basis that ANL had no real prospect of defending the claim, given that the headline and images were “misleading,” if not technically inaccurate. The judgement marks the first successful data protection claim of its kind against a newspaper based on the unfair use of headlines and images. The BBC, The Guardian, Press Gazette have more information. 5RB and the Brett Wilson Media blog have summaries.

The new Labour leader, Andy Burnham is expected to announce that his Government will abandon plans for a national digital ID scheme introduced under Sir Keir Starmer, stating that the resources allocated to the project would instead be redirected towards cost-of-living measures and other everyday priorities. The proposal had previously been scaled back from a mandatory to a voluntary scheme following public concerns about surveillance, data security and digital inclusion and political opposition. BBC, The Guardian, The Times, The Telegraph, Sky News, The Independent, Financial Times, Reuters and ITVX covered the development.

Burnham is also reportedly planning to abolish the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology and move its functions into the Business department, as part of a wider Whitehall reorganisation. The proposal has prompted criticism from politicians, officials and technology industry leaders, who argue that dismantling the department would disrupt the UK’s AI and technology agenda at a critical time. The Guardian, The Telegraph, The Times, Financial Times and SME Magazine reported on the story.

Internet and Social Media

The UK government has announced plans to introduce a default overnight social media curfew for 16- and 17- year olds from midnight to 6am, alongside disabling features like auto-play and infinite scroll to improve sleep and wellbeing. However, as teenagers can opt out by changing their settings, critics argue the measures are too weak and unlikely to be effective. While supporters say the changes will help reduce excessive screen time, others warn they could limit access to vital online support and fail to address broader online safety concerns. The BBC, The Guardian, CNBC and The Washington Post has more information.

Ofcom has opened an investigation into whether TikTok has breached its obligations under the Online Safety Act by failing to protect children from harmful content and by using ineffective age assurance measures. TikTok maintains that it “strictly enforce[s] age-appropriate experiences.” Sky News, BBC, The Guardian and Biometric Update reported on the development.

Artificial Intelligence

DLA Piper’s Privacy Matters blog has an article examining how governments in China and EU member states are regulating for deepfakes.

Surveillance

A group of Meta employees has filed a lawsuit in California alleging that the company used AI-driven performance assessment and employee monitoring systems to identify staff for redundancy, with workers who had taken maternity, medical or other protected leave being disproportionately selected. The plaintiffs are attempting to halt the layoffs with a preliminary court ruling whilst they pursue their claims for compensation and reinstatement. Meta denies the allegations and maintains that redundancy decisions were made by human managers rather than solely by AI. The Guardian and The Irish Times covered the story.

IPSO

 Statements in Open Court and Apologies

On 13 July 2026, there was a statement in open court before Fordham J in the harassment, MPI and breach of data protection case of Davies v Weston KB-2026-000973. The claim arose from the Defendant’s four-year campaign of online impersonation, or “catfishing,” using the Claimant’s likeness. The Defendant created and operated numerous fake social media accounts using the Claimant’s photographs and, later, AI-generated images, attracting a substantial online following and engaging in personal and romantic communications with third parties, leading members of the public to believe they were interacting with the Claimant. In settlement of the claim, the Defendant also paid compensation to the Claimant and undertook not to repeat the conduct in future. 5RB have a summary. The BBC, LBC, The Independent, London Evening Standard and The Mirror covered the development.

New Issued Cases

There was one new breach of privacy claim issued in the Media and Communications List this week.

Last Week in the Courts

As mentioned above, on Monday 13 July 2026 there was a statement in open court before Fordham J in the case of Davies v Weston KB-2026-000973.

The part heard contempt application in the case of Garrett v Schestowitz and another KB-2024-001270 will continue before Fordham J.

On Tuesday 14 July 2026, there was a hearing before Tipples J in the case of Amersi v BBC KB-2022-003244. Judgement was handed down on Friday 17 July.

There was also a costs application in the case of Foot Anstey LLP & anr v Stimson KB-2024-002927.

On Tuesday 14 July and 15 July 2026, there was a costs and contempt hearing before Linden J in the case of Lodhia v Twelve Trees Management Company Limited and others KB-2025-001785.

As mentioned above, on Wednesday 15 July 2026, the Court of Appeal handed down judgement in the appeal of Vince v ANL [2026] EWCA Civ 899. The claim will be remitted to the High Court for damages to be assessed.

On the same day, there was a PTR in the case of Chanel Ltd v Skeens KB-2024-002470. There was also a hearing of a strike out application in the case of Kingsley v MacAskill KB-2025-004646 before Fordham J.

Fordham J also delivered an ex tempore judgment in the case of Kingsley v Macaskill [2026] EWHC 1799 (KB). The underlying claim for defamation, data protection and malicious falsehood arose from two LinkedIn posts, the publication and meanings of which are agreed. The Defendant seeks to rely on the defences of truth, honest opinion and public interest. The court ordered the defendant to file an amended defence and any further evidence, after the parties agreed that the original Defence did not comply with the Civil Procedure Rules.

On Thursday 16 July, Linden J refused the Defendant’s strike out application in the case of Ideasoft Solutions LLC & Ors v Kolomiets [2026] EWHC 1775 (KB). The claimants, software development companies and their Director, brought claims for harassment and defamation arising from an alleged campaign of blackmail, harassment and false accusations of criminality by the company’s former Chief Business Development Officer. The Defendant sought to strike out the claims on the basis of jurisdictional objections and pleading deficiencies. The Court refused the application, holding that the claims should proceed to trial and the territorial jurisdiction issues could be determined at that stage.

On Friday 17 July, Hill J handed down judgement in the case of Phillips v Oloffs [2026] EWHC 1821 (KB). The Claimant alleged that the Defendant had mounted a public harassment campaign against him, maliciously repeating false allegations relating to their membership of Greenwich Yacht Club. The Court granted the Defendant’s application for summary judgement on the harassment, breach of confidence and MPI claims, finding the Claimant had no real prospect of success. However, Hill J dismissed the Defendant’s application to strike out each of the claims and allowed part of the breach of UK GDPR claim to proceed, subject to determining at a consequentials hearing whether pursuing that claim alone would amount to Jameel abuse [191].

Media Law in Other Jurisdictions

Canada

On 13 July 2026, the Court of Appeal for BC handed down judgement in the defamation appeal of Cheesman v Dobrer, 2026 BCCA 298. The Appellant, a student coordinator of a University of British Columbia Social Justice Centre (UBC SCJ), brought the claim in relation to the Respondent printing and distributing 500 stickers with UBC SCJ’s logo and the message “I [heart emoji] Hamas.” The chambers judge found that the sticker was capable of bearing a defamatory meaning but dismissed the claim under the Protection of Public Participation Act, because the defendant failed to establish the publication would reasonably have been understood to refer to him. On appeal, the Appellant argued that the judge had applied the wrong test for identification and had incorrectly required proof of harm. The respondent cross-appealed the decision not to award costs. The appeal and cross-appeal were both dismissed, with the Court holding that the judge had applied the correct legal principles, had not imposed a separate harm requirement and had properly exercised her discretion on costs.

The Michael Geist blog has an article arguing that the Canadian government’s plans for a social media ban in Bill C-34 is unconstitutional.

Morocco

An investigation has revealed that Morocco’s domestic intelligence service used Pegasus spyware between 2017 and 2021 to conduct extensive surveillance of journalists, human rights defenders, politicians, and security officials in Morocco and abroad. The evidence corroborates long-standing allegations that Morocco used Pegasus, despite the country’s repeated denials. The OCCRP and The Guardian, Middle East Eye, Le Monde, France 24 have more information.

Singapore

The Singapore High Court ordered Bloomberg and one of its reporters to pay S$460,000 in damages to two Ministers after finding that a 2024 article on luxury property transactions conveyed the defamatory implication that they had used non-transparent arrangements to avoid scrutiny and facilitate possible money laundering. Bloomberg denied that the article suggested any wrongdoing, but the court held that the article, read as a whole, “directly impugn[s] the claimants’ personal integrity, character and professional reputation.” BBC, The Guardian, Bloomberg, NYT and The Diplomat – Asia Pacific covered the ruling.

Research and Resources

Next week in the courts [Updated]

We are not aware of any cases listed in the Media and Communications List this week. 

On Wednesday 22 July 2026 there will be a hearing in the libel case of Picker v TEW KB-2023-003201.

On the same day there will be a hearing in the case of Tooley v Times Media Limited  KB-2025-004496.

On Thursday 23 July 2026 there will be hearings in the libel cases of Mkrtchyan v 2TROM MEDIA GROUP Ltd KB-2025-001365 and Akhtar v News Group Newspapers Limited KB-2026-000749 and in the case of PHJ v UBV.

On Friday 24 July 2026 there will be a consequentials hearing before Fancourt J in the managed MNHL litigation,  Sculfor and others v MGN.

Reserved Judgments

Bridgen v Hancock, heard 20 May 2026 (King, Warby and Whipple LJJ)

This Round Up was compiled by Jasleen Chaggar who is the Senior Legal and Policy Officer at Big Brother Watch.