![]() In effect, Peter Thiel was leveraging his capital to enact retribution on Gawker through these lawsuits. Over the next three years, Gawker lost and appealed the Hogan lawsuit, and several more complaints against the media company began arising in state courts, citing help from Hogan’s lawyers. Upon refusal, Hogan proceeded with a lawsuit and the videos were removed from the site. ![]() This action immediately prompted a demand from Hogan’s attorney, insisting that Gawker remove the post. In October 2012, Gawker published several sexually explicit video clips featuring Hulk Hogan online, drawing over 7 million views. More notably, the First Amendment protects discourse about public individuals, even when this discourse includes “vehement, caustic, unpleasantly sharp attacks on government and public officials” The judgement cited the First and Fourteenth Amendments, purporting that these provide sufficient protection to prevent a public figure plaintiff from successfully suing for damages. 2d 686 established the precedent for this in 1964, when it held that a public official cannot be granted damages for defamation-as it relates to his official conduct-unless he could prove ‘actual malice’ on the part of the media organization. The legal definition also draws a clear distinction between how this concept applies when the plaintiff is a public figure and when he is a private individual. ĭefamation includes written communication, known as libel, as well as spoken communication, known as slander. At the worst, it sets a precedent that may be used to intimidate investigative journalists from releasing any sensitive information to the public, should it not be in a wealthy public figure’s interest.Īny intentional false communication, either written or spoken, that harms a person’s reputation decreases the respect, regard, or confidence in which a person is held or induces disparaging, hostile, or disagreeable opinions or feelings against a person. Thiel’s successful vendetta against Gawker Media demonstrates, at best, that wealthy public figures can legally sanction journalists when they uncover damaging information. If so, what does the outcome of Hogan’s lawsuit mean for the future of investigative journalism? Is there a meaningful difference between the kind of personal information that is considered fair game for journalism between private citizens and public figures? Two legal questions emerge from this celebrity drama: Four years and a fortune in legal fees later, he succeeded in forcing the company to settle, filing for bankruptcy as a result. Unlike in 2007, Thiel was determined to run Gawker out of business, in retribution for its act of “bully” in his own life. This time around, the publication involved a greater violation of privacy, and the lawsuit involved an angrier and more invested Peter Thiel. In 2012, leaked Hulk Hogan’s sex tape, reigniting questions from the outing ordeal. ![]() Upset as Thiel was, no amount of money or influence could include the publication of a true personal fact in the definition of libel. The article gained traction, and although Thiel took this as an egregious compromise of his privacy, Gawker stood by its choice, on the grounds that it was true, and that he had come out to close friends in the past. Ten years ago, published a story through which it publicly outed Peter Thiel, the cofounder of Paypal and leading investor in Facebook. The outing-and the truly troubling issue with this settlement-however, happened in 2007. The case included a sex tape leak, a debate over the privacy of public figures, and a secret benefactor covering Hogan’s legal fees. Bollea (Hulk Hogan) for $31 million, effectively bankrupting the media company. Last November, Gawker media settled a lawsuit from Terry G. In fact, the morality and legality of the issue had not crossed paths until 2016. While outing people against their will is morally wrong, it is not seen as defamation in the eyes of the law. ![]()
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