PAUL TWEED, THE Co Down solicitor who has previously represented A-list celebrities and public figures ranging from Britney Spears to Miriam O’Callaghan, is planning a group action in the Irish courts against social media and AI platforms.
The solicitor told The Journal he wants to rein in the Big Tech companies and believes the use of AI needs to be controlled due to potential dangers it poses around defamatory content.
He said AI companies can’t use the “old social media argument” where they insisted they’re not publishers and can’t be held liable for content posted by users on their platforms.
Tweed has published a new book detailing his lengthy career navigating defamation cases for the rich and famous, but he also uses it as a rallying call to “jolt” governments and media into action against Big Tech and AI.
In the book – titled ‘From Holywood to Hollywood: My Life as an International Libel Lawyer to the Rich and Famous’ – he explains that he has what “finally encouraged me put pen to paper … are the extraordinary developments in Big Tech – and especially in artificial intelligence”.
Tweed said he has come to realise that AI and Big Tech “pose a threat to all of us” and that legislation “lags far behind” these developments.
Speaking to The Journal, Tweed voiced concern over the advancements made in the technology, criticising the Irish government for “facilitating” a “protective shield” against the big tech companies due to what he was an unwillingness to them on.
“I deal with everyone from a single mother being bullied online by a disaffected partner, being threatened online, who doesn’t have a voice. It’s not just wealthy people or people with a legal mind,” he said.
“Up to now, the platforms have claimed ‘we’re not a publisher’ because they don’t create their own content,” he said.
“Generative AI does create some content. It creates new content, stuff that it’s bringing in as a sort of a news aggregator or an information aggregator,” Tweed added.
“So they can’t use the old social media argument, that ‘We have no input on what’s put in our platforms’. I think that’s going to be crucial.”
Tweed said he is in discussions with cyberpsychology professor Mary Aiken about launching a legal action which will first focus on screen addiction.
As many of the major technology companies have Ireland as their EU headquarters, he intends to take the case in the High Court here.
However, Tweed said that any case will be complicated because, unlike in the United States and in the UK, Ireland does not allow class actions and does not allow third party funding for legal claims.
He plans instead to take a group action. This will involve forming a non-profit group with its stated aim being to protect consumer rights.
“So Ireland would be obviously the preferred choice, subject to funding arrangements being allowed, and subject to the classification, whether a group action would suffice,” Tweed said.
“But I’m looking at that at the moment – the likelihood is group action in Ireland, but it’s obviously subject to quite a number of caveats.”
“Ireland have got a big opportunity to set down a marker. You have to treat the platforms as a publisher, simple as that,” he said, thereby placing the large platforms on the same basis as online media or newspapers.
Tweed’s book released this month traces his career from starting in Northern Ireland to becoming a prominent media lawyer representing a seemingly endless roster of celebrities and other high-profile individuals.
Part of it looks at his dealings with members of the UK’s royal family, in particular with Prince Andrew in the weeks prior to a notorious interview with BBC Newsmight over his friendship with disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein.
The scandal is the subject of a new retelling on Amazon Prime, with Welsh actor Michael Sheen as Prince Andrew and Ruth Wilson as BBC journalist Emily Maitlis (although you can’t watch it in Ireland just yet).
While never representing Andrew directly, Tweed has long represented his former wife Sarah Ferguson and came into contact with the late Queen Elizabeth’s son through these means.
Recalling his discussions with Andrew and his team, Tweed said he had strongly advised the Duke of York against the “absolute madness” of doing a sitdown interview on allegations made by alleged sex trafficking victim Virginia Giuffre.
Andrew later made an out of court settlement worth over €14 million with Giuffre following her civil sexual assualt claim against him.
“I got a phone call, I had met with him over matters relating to Sarah, and obviously we discussed [the case] and he had made some mention of doing a TV interview at that stage. I mean, I said, absolutely no way. Don’t even contemplate it,” Tweed said.
He later received a phone call from one of Andrew’s main advisers who told him that the son of the then Queen had decided to speak to the BBC. “And I said, absolutely no way. Do not do it,” Tweed said.
The prince came in for much criticism for how he handled the interview, later backing away from public duties.
“I thought somebody in the palace would have pulled him aside and stopped it,” Tweed said.
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