Carole Cadwalladr Profile picture
Sep 2 4 tweets 3 min read Read on X
Yesterday I wrote a piece about Elon Musk for @ObserverUK, a free speech warrior so committed to the cause he serially sues his critics for libel. Today he responds to an untrue tweet about my own libel case.
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This is the article.

What I said in this ‘hateful’ piece is that Elon Musk believes in free speech in the same way he believes in free Teslas. Free for him & very expensive for everyone else.

It’s not a cause. It’s a grift.

theguardian.com/commentisfree/…
Musk’s latest defamation suit is against a non profit org @mmfa who’d had the temerity to speak freely about advertising on X.

His last libel claim was thrown out by a judge who said it was a SLAPP suit intended to intimidate & silence

3/

cnbc.com/2024/08/29/jud…
@mmfa Here he is celebrating the outcome of a hearing in this libel case in the middle of a tweetstorm about the death of free speech in Brazil & the threat of ‘censorship’ if Kamala wins.

4/


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More from @carolecadwalla

May 23, 2023
NEW: I'm seeking permission to appeal in the Supreme Court. There's no meaningful free expression in this country if after proving your speech is lawful, you're hit with £££ costs: a devastating ruling that will chill public interest journalism
by @_EmmaGH
theguardian.com/uk-news/2023/m…
This was filed today in the Court of Appeal. If the Supreme Court rejects it, we believe there’s a strong case to take it to the European Court of Human Rights. ImageImageImageImage
Article 10 of the European Convention of Human Rights puts an obligation on states to ensure freedom of expression. According to the ruling in this case, it's very far from free: even if you can prove your speech is lawful, it'll still cost you hundreds of thousands of pounds...
Read 5 tweets
Feb 28, 2023
The Court of Appeal has ruled.

I've won on 2 of 3 important grounds of principle.

Most importantly, the landmark public interest ruling is intact. The judge's findings of fact are intact. The original judgment holds.

The court found in favour of Banks on a single point
1/
It has ruled that after the NCA concluded its investigation in April 2020, the continued publication of the TED talk caused him serious harm

Only guess what? That 'continued publication' has nothing to do with me! I'm not the publisher. And the court even *acknowledges* this.
2/
The judgment clearly underlines *exactly* why this is a SLAPP. Why didn't Banks sue TED? Or @ObserverUK which first published the words?

And now I've been held *personally* liable for a video published by media org in a foreign jurisdiction protected by the first amendment
3/
Read 8 tweets
Jan 22, 2023
It's been a long time but v happy to be back in @ObserverUK today with 2 pieces, both close to my heart. And to launch a new project with @allthecitizens.

1/ An astonishing new claim that MI5 refused to investigate Russian spy's infiltration of Tory party
theguardian.com/politics/2023/…
2/ Delighted to profile the fierce & brilliant @pevchikh for @ObsNewReview. If you've seen the Navalny doc, she's the woman sitting by Navalny's side as he calls one of his FSB poisoners & gets him to confess to Novichoking his underpants.
theguardian.com/world/2023/jan…
3/ Finally, the story of how the Kremlin captured Britain. And how the UK government covered it up. If you've wondered why no British broadcaster has told the real story behind the Russia Report, please watch this & consider contributing.

Read 5 tweets
Jul 17, 2022
My jaw hit the floor when I discovered Boris Johnson left an emergency NATO meeting after the Kremlin’s chemical warfare attack on Britain & flew to an off-the-books meeting with an ex-KGB spy.

Yours should too.

This is how it happened.
1/

theguardian.com/politics/2022/…
In July 2019, Johnson had just been made PM. And @nickhopkinsnews published 2 extraordinary stories about Foreign Secretary Johnson flying from a NATO meeting to a party in Italy at the height of the Skripal crisis.

2/
theguardian.com/politics/2019/…
The party was at Evgeny Lebedev’s villa. The owner of Independent & Evening Standard.

Hopkins’s first story suggested he’d given his security detail the slip to fly to Italy. Then a Guardian reader supplied photos of him leaving: hungover & dishevelled
3/ Image
Read 17 tweets
Jun 19, 2022
It did almost crush me.

The only reason it didn't is because of my amazing lawyers & the generosity of 28,887 people.

But here's what you don't know. The judgment is *extraordinary*. 117 pages of FACTS.

About Russia, Brexit & the man who funded it.
1/
theguardian.com/uk-news/commen…
I was blown away when I read it.

To judge the case on public interest, Mrs Justice Steyn first had to judge if Arron Banks had - as I alleged - lied.

To do so, she examined his relationship with the Russian govt in forensic detail.

We now have this all on public record.
2/
This is what I claimed was the key lie.

The public statement Arron Banks made on the day the Electoral Commission opened its investigation into his Brexit donation.

He said his "sole involvement with 'the Russians' was a boozy 6 hour lunch".

I said this was a lie.
3/
Read 14 tweets
Jun 13, 2022
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 🙏🙏🙏

theguardian.com/uk-news/2022/j…
I haven't read the judgment yet but what I can say that the last 3 years have been extraordinarily difficult. Fighting this has been a crushing, debilitating, all-consuming experience that I sincerely hope no other journalist ever has to go through.
2/
judiciary.uk/judgments/bank…
The fact that his case was brought clearly shows how our libel laws favour the rich & powerful. I was only able to defend myself because of the incredibly generous support of the public. But this judgment is a huge victory for public interest journalism.
3/
Read 4 tweets

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