Twitter Outburst: Lawrence Fox Ordered to Pay £180,000 in Libel Case

Categories: Defamation

Michael Coyle
May 7, 2024

From Tweets to the Courtroom

In January 2024, Lawrence Fox lost his libel case. More recently, in April 2024, Mr Fox was ordered to pay £90,000 in libel damages to each of the two claimants. The dispute arose due to a thread of tweets from October 2020.

October 2020 was Black History Month and during the ‘Black Lives Matter’ (BLM) movement following the death of George Floyd. In response to the leading supermarket giant Sainsbury’s tweeting it does not tolerate racism, Mr Fox expressed wanting a boycott. The two claimants responded by calling Mr Fox a racist. He retaliated through calling each claimant a “paedophile”. As a result, Mr Fox faced two libel claims.

No Room for Defamatory Tweets: The Judgment

The High Court held in favour of the claimants that Mr Fox labelling them “paedophiles” was significantly harmful, defamatory and baseless. Mr Fox failed to establish a defence to his defamatory statement. In addition, he showed no attempt to prove any truth to the statements.

Furthermore, the posts describing Mr Fox as a “racist” were held to have not caused serious harm. Mr Fox did not attempt to establish this statement caused or was likely to cause serious harm to his reputation. However, the court omitted from considering whether this opinion was substantially true, or honestly held.

The Aftermath

The case had significant national profile and sends a clear message about responsible communication online. It emphasises the legal consequences of thoughtless remarks and the protection offered by the courts to individuals subject to harmful allegations. So, in April 2024, Mr Fox was ordered to pay £90,000 in libel damages to each claimant.

By Ava Edwards, a student at Southampton University.

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Written By:

Michael Coyle

Michael is Lawdit’s Principal and heads our Commercial and Intellectual Property Department. As a Solicitor Advocate, he is one of a select group of legal experts qualified to represent clients as an advocate in the Higher Courts in England and Wales. He holds a Master of Laws degree (LL.M) from Nottingham Trent University and is a guest lecturer at Southampton Solent University. He has also completed a teaching stint at the Academy of Music in Guildford where Michael taught copyright law. Michael is highly regarded for his work in all areas of intellectual property law (which includes the eCommerce and IT fields), litigation and company/commercial matters. He regularly advises on non-contentious issues including regulatory and statutory obligations and has been involved in many successful disputes, with a strong reputation for finding common sense and practical solutions for clients. In 2017, Michael was awarded the honorary degree of Doctor of Law from Southampton Solent University for his contribution to the University and his continued support to its students.