Green energy industrialist Dale Vince has had his High Court data protection claim against the Daily Mail’s publisher dismissed by a judge.
Mr Vince, based in Gloucestershire, initiated legal action against Associated Newspapers Limited (ANL) over a June 2023 article titled “Labour repays £100,000 to sex pest donor.” The article featured a photograph of Mr Vince holding a Just Stop Oil banner alongside coverage of Labour returning funds to donor Davide Serra.
Although the online version of the article replaced Mr Vince’s image with one of Mr Serra about 47 minutes after publication, the print edition retained the original photograph. The backdrop to this story involves a 2022 employment tribunal that found Mr Serra made sexist remarks to a female colleague, which were classified as unlawful sexual harassment.
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Mr Vince contended that ANL unlawfully misused his personal data by publishing his photograph alongside the headline, potentially misleading readers into thinking he was implicated in sexual harassment claims.
ANL defended the case by arguing it was an improper attempt to revisit a libel claim previously dismissed. On Monday, Mr Justice Swift dismissed Mr Vince’s data protection claim, affirming there was no real chance of success.
The judge stated, “Any ordinary reader would quickly discern from the article’s text that Mr Vince was not accused of sexual harassment.” He concluded that the personal data relating to Mr Vince was processed fairly and noted that the data protection claim should have been consolidated with the defamation claim last year, as both arose from the same publication event and hinged on similar factual issues.
Following the ruling, Mr Vince, who is also the major shareholder and chairman of Forest Green Rovers, announced plans to appeal. He criticized existing media law as outdated in the digital age, emphasizing that the law wrongly assumes people read full articles rather than just headlines.
“People’s attention spans on the internet are short, and media organizations have data to prove it,” Mr Vince said. “If readers only see the headline and my photograph, it can easily create a misleading impression. The law needs to adapt to modern realities rather than relying on the assumption that everyone reads entire stories.”