Brexit-sponsored billionaire Arron Banks has lost his defamation suit against Observer and Guardian journalist Carole Cadwalladr, who was criticized as an attack on free speech.
Banks, who funded the pro-Brexit Leave.EU campaign group, personally sued Cadwalladr for two cases in which he said the businessman was lying about his relationship with the Russian state: one in a Ted Talk and the other in a tweet.
His lawyer Gavin Millar QC had argued that the case was an attempt to silence the journalist’s reports on “matters of the highest public interest”, ie campaign finance, foreign money and the use of social media messages. personal data in the context of the EU referendum. .
Proponents of free speech and freedom of the press characterized the claim as a strategic lawsuit against public participation (Slapp), an attempt to shut down public criticism.
If Banks had won the case, Cadwalladr would have been liable for its costs, estimated at between £ 750,000 and £ 1 million, along with the resulting damages.
More to come…