United Kingdom: Multimillionaire Arron Banks Loses Defamation SLAPP Against Carole Cadwalladr In Major Win For Press Freedom

Location: United Kingdom, London 
Date: June 13, 2022

Photo Credit: TED

In a major win for press freedom, multimillionaire Arron Banks has lost his libel lawsuit against  The Observer and The Guardian journalist Carole Cadwalladr. Banks was suing the investigative journalist for defamation over two instances, a comment she made during a Ted Talk and a tweet, where she said he was lying about his relationship with the Russian state. The Coalition For Women In Journalism welcomes the verdict dismissing the SLAPP and celebrates Carole’s win. The journalist should never have been subjected to three years of vexatious litigation for simply doing her job and holding power accountable to begin with. 

Announcing the verdict on June 13, Mrs Justice Steyn ruled that the threshold for serious harm had only been met in the TED Talk but that Carole initially had successfully established a public interest defense under section 4 of the Defamation Act, reported The Guardian,  

“A key factor, in my judgment, is whether Ms. Cadwalladr had reasonable grounds to believe that her intended meaning was true. For the reasons which follow, I consider that when she gave the TED Talk, she did,” wrote the judge while dismissing the case. 

An award-winning journalist, Carole stood trial for the SLAPP brought against her by the businessman on the basis of a 15-minute video of a TED Talk Carole gave in 2019. In the video still up on TED platforms the journalist made a passing remark about Banks’s donation to the Brexit campaign. While speaking about the impact Facebook had on the electoral process, Carole stated that the £8 million donation made by Banks to Nigel Farage's Brexit campaign in 2016 breached electoral and data laws. In a subsequent tweet, she also asserted that Banks had not been entirely truthful about his relationship with the Russian government in the past. The journalist argued that her remarks were made in larger public interest. 

Banks, who had persistently denied any association with the Russian government, was earlier released from charges of illegality regarding his donations soon after the publication of the video. He then went on to sue Carole for defamation. 

The multimillionaire initially filed four claims against Carole in July 2019, two of which were dismissed in January 2020, after the court found them to be “far-fetched and divorced from the specific context in which those words were used”.

But this case dragged on for three years, forcing Carole to fight a vexatious and often rancorous legal battle. The journalist was subjected to extreme distress as she circled the courts to face the lawsuit seeking an estimated £750,000 to £1million  in damages. After four days of hearings in January 2022, during which the journalist’s lawyer argued that Carole’s reporting on Banks and the Russian state was in the greater public interest, the judge had reserved the verdict. 

The written judgment issued on June 13 dismissed the claims made by Banks. “A key factor, in my judgment, is whether Ms Cadwalladr had reasonable grounds to believe that her intended meaning was true … I consider that when she gave the Ted Talk, she did,” noted the judge, ruling that the video was not defamatory. 

“Fighting this has been a crushing, debilitating, all-consuming experience that I sincerely hope no other journalist ever has to go through,” Carole wrote on Twitter after the verdict came. She thanked her legal team and the 29,000 people who contributed to her legal fund. The journalist described the legal ordeal she was put through as “extraordinarily difficult”.

It hasn’t sunk in yet but…SOME NEWS.

I am so profoundly grateful & relieved.

Thank you to the judge, my stellar legal team & the 29,000 people who contributed to my legal defence fund. I literally couldn’t have done it without you 🙏🙏🙏https://t.co/Zj0TzN9W6x

— Carole Cadwalladr (@carolecadwalla) June 13, 2022

The Coalition For Women In Journalism had closely followed this case for its serious implications on press freedom and public interest reporting. We, along with numerous local and international press freedom organizations, stood by Carole Cadwalladr as she was targeted for her work. Today, we celebrate her win and laud her courage in the face of an unequal and unjust legal battle. This judgment is vital for press freedom in the UK and highlights the larger issue of SLAPPs (strategic lawsuits against public participation) used to silence journalists. Banks, who chose to target an individual journalist instead of the platform which published the video in question, has said that he will likely appeal the verdict. The CFWIJ reiterates that Carole should not have been subjected to this legal ordeal to begin with and calls for larger reforms by the state and judiciary to support SLAPP targets. Journalists must be allowed to report on matters of public interest and hold power to account without fear of being targeted and legally harassed by the rich and powerful evading accountability.

The Coalition For Women In Journalism is a global organization of support for women journalists. The CFWIJ pioneered mentorship for mid-career women journalists across several countries around the world and is the first organization to focus on the status of free press for women journalists. We thoroughly document cases of any form of abuse against women in any part of the globe. Our system of individuals and organizations brings together the experience and mentorship necessary to help female career journalists navigate the industry. Our goal is to help develop a strong mechanism where women journalists can work safely and thrive.

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