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In 2017, the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) launched a formal investigation into the use of data analytics for political purposes, and the investigation is expected to continue until October 2018. On 11 July 2018, the ICO published a progress report as well as a second report, Democracy Disrupted: Personal information and political influence, which sets out a number of policy recommendations arising from the investigation so far. Of the actions detailed by the progress report, the most high-profile is the one against Facebook. The ICO issued a Notice of Intent to fine it GBP500 000, the...

On 16 July 2018, Ofcom, the UK communications regulator, issued a notable decision concerning the first episode of a new current affairs programme broadcast on RT. The Alex Salmond Show is a political and current affairs series hosted by the former First Minister of Scotland, Alex Salmond, and produced by his own production company, Slàinte [Gaelic for “good health”] Media. RT is a global news and current affairs channel produced in Russia and funded by the Federal Agency for Press and Mass Communications of the Russian Federation. In the United Kingdom, the channel broadcasts on satellite and...

The House of Commons Digital, Culture, Media and Sport Committee (the Committee) has published its Disinformation and ‘fake news’: interim report (the Report). A further, substantive report will be published in autumn 2018. The Report’s remit expanded from the phenomenon of fake news distributed through social media to also include other activities which, unless addressed, would endanger the future of democracy. The Committee took account of events such as evidence of election influencing through the Russian state-sponsored manipulation of social media and, similarly, attempts by private companies...

Sir Cliff Richard OBE (Sir Cliff), a popular singer whose career spans over 50 years, was awarded damages and costs in the High Court of Justice against the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) for their infringement of his privacy during a South Yorkshire Police (SYP) investigation against him concerning an alleged historic sex crime which was not pursued. Mr Justice Mann presided over a twelve-day trial during which he balanced Sir Cliff’s right to privacy flowing from Article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) introduced into English law by the Human Rights Act 1998 (the Act)...

On 13 June 2018, the UK Supreme Court held in Cartier International AG & Ors v British Telecommunications Plc & Anor that Internet service providers (ISPs) should not bear the costs incurred in implementing counterfeit site-blocking injunctions issued against them under section 37(1) of the Senior Courts Act 1981. The appellants in this case are the five largest providers of networks through which subscribers can access content online but who do not provide, store or monitor content themselves. The respondents are well-known companies belonging to the Richemont Group. They design, manufacture and...