Prince Harry, the younger son of King Charles III, and other celebrities including Elton John have lost a damages lawsuit filed against the publisher of the British Daily Mail over allegations of illegal news gathering.
According to the dpa news agency, the High Court in London dismissed all claims filed by the seven plaintiffs, including the Prince and the singer, against Associated Newspapers (ANL) on July 7 (local time).
This lawsuit was the third and final one filed by Prince Harry amid an intense legal battle with British tabloid media.
Prince Harry and the other plaintiffs alleged that ANL had illegally gathered information by employing private investigators, freelance journalists, and staff members to hack into voicemails, wiretap landline telephones, and obtain information under false pretenses.
ANL countered that its journalists wrote articles through legitimate reporting, such as tips from friends or acquaintances, existing reports, or by citing articles from other media outlets.
After the hearing, the court ruled that none of the seven plaintiffs had proven their claims that media outlets under ANL had collected information illegally.
The court pointed out, "The claimants are asking the court to accept that because the information was private and ANL cannot clearly explain the source, the articles must have been obtained illegally, which is an unacceptable approach."
The court also noted that for some of the plaintiffs, the statute of limitations for filing the lawsuit had already expired.
Regarding the verdict, ANL welcomed the result, stating, "The court has recognized that the testimony regarding our journalists' reporting methods was honest," and added, "The reputations of our journalists, who have worked with integrity, were severely damaged, but today's ruling has proven their innocence."
Prince Harry issued a statement criticizing the decision, saying, "The measures taken by the court to grant a free pass to the Daily Mail are not only shocking but completely unjustified," while also noting that the outcome was "not entirely unexpected," according to Reuters.
Prince Harry has made it his mission to change the British tabloid media and has filed several lawsuits since 2019.
In addition to ANL, he has filed similar lawsuits against News Group Newspapers (NGN), which owns tabloids such as The Sun, and Mirror Group Newspapers (MGN), the publisher of the Daily Mirror.
In a lawsuit against MGN, the court ruled in December 2023 that Prince Harry should be awarded 140,600 pounds (approximately 230 million won) in damages.
In February 2024, Prince Harry reached a settlement with MGN to receive a significant sum and dropped the remaining claims.
Another publisher, NGN, also acknowledged the invasion of Prince Harry's privacy in February of last year, apologized, and agreed to pay a settlement to conclude the lawsuit.
(Photo: AP, Yonhap News)