High Court Awards Claimant '45,000 Damages In Twitter Libel Claim

• Published date: 19 July 2021
• Subject Matter: Corporate/Commercial Law, Litigation, Mediation & Arbitration, Media, Telecoms, IT, Entertainment, Charities & Non-Profits , IT and Internet, Trials & Appeals & Compensation, Libel & Defamation, Social Media
• Law Firm: Wiggin
• Author: Ms Adelaide Lopez

The claimant, publicly known as Jean Hatchet, is a feminist campaigner with a particular focus on violence against women and girls. She uses a pseudonym due to concerns for her and her family's safety arising from threats of violence (including sexual assault) for her campaigning work. She uses the Twitter handle @JeanHatchet, which has between 9,000 and 14,000 followers. In 2017, Ms Hatchet started a series of sponsored bicycle rides to raise funds for a domestic violence charity, which she advertised on her Twitter account.

In October 2018, Ms Hatchet was a vocal opponent of proposals to reform the Gender Recognition Act 2004 to enable self-identification rather than medical certification to be the basis of a legal change in gender. She supported the rights of biologically female women and girls to single sex spaces.

Following publication by a small feminist campaigning group, Fair Play for Women, of a full-page ad in the Metro Newspaper to promote awareness of the Government consultation on the proposed legislative reforms and to encourage opposition to the provisions on self-identification, the defendant posted two Tweets contributing to the debate on the ability of a small campaigning group to pay for such an ad: (i) "Now you know where @jeanhatchet's fundraising has gone !"; and (ii) "I raised this with her as my boss donated '1000 to her charity but the charity apparently only received a much smaller amount so she blocked me".

Ms Hatchet issued proceedings against the defendant for libel, saying that the Tweets were politically motivated because of the defendant's disagreement with her views on the proposed reforms. Judgment in default was entered in Ms Hatchet's favour in July 2020. The defendant filed no evidence and did not attend the hearing on remedies and costs.

Senior Master Fontaine said that in a trial of remedies following a judgment in default, the court has jurisdiction to grant relief and award damages based upon the unchallenged statements of case.

Senior Master Fontaine said that the meaning of the Tweets, as pleaded by Ms Hatchet, was that she had dishonestly misappropriated charity funds and was guilty of theft. The words were inherently serious as they imputed criminal offences under the Theft Act 1986 or the Fraud Act 2006. Further, the Tweets were published on an unlocked Twitter account to the world at large; at the time, the defendant had 177 followers to whom the tweets were published. There was also evidence that the...