Bloomberg loses Supreme Court privacy case

17/02/2022 | The Guardian

In a landmark privacy case, the Supreme Court ruled against Bloomberg News, making it harder for media companies to publish information about people under investigation. 

The case involved an article from 2016 where Bloomberg had named an American business executive working at a large public company who, at the time, was facing a British regulator's criminal inquiry. Bloomberg had obtained a confidential letter revealing that the businessman was being investigated about claims his company were involved in corruption and bribery in another country. The businessman decided to sue Bloomberg over the article, claiming the media company had misused his private information as he had not been arrested or charged with any offence.

Lord Hamblen and Lord Stephens said in the judgement: "For some time, judges have voiced concerns as to the negative effect on an innocent person's reputation of the publication that he or she is being investigated by the police or an organ of the state."

Read the Supreme Court press summary.

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UK Supreme Court, Privy Council

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