Legal costs awarded against Elon Musk's X after stay refused in Coimisiún na Meán case
High Court Reporter
The High Court has awarded legal costs against Elon Musk's social media giant 'X', formerly Twitter, after it failed to get a stay order on a Coimisiún na Meán investigation into complaints received by the media watchdog from users of the platform.
Musk's controversial X Internet Unlimited Company is asking the High Court to quash the commission’s decision to pass information relating to the complaints to the watchdog’s internal “supervisory” team for possible future investigation.
At the High Court on Friday, Justice Cian Ferriter awarded legal costs to the commission, represented by David Fennelly, after it successfully defended X's stay application earlier this month.
Fennelly told the judge that while the commission had objected to the stay, the substantive hearing of the trial could go ahead in July and legal teams would be working through the Easter break to be ready for the scheduled two-day hearing.
The complaints received by the commission were made under provisions in the EU’s Digital Services Act.
In the substantive judicial review proceedings, X claims the commission’s decision to refer the information to the supervisory team was unlawful.
The commission denies this, arguing that it is within its powers to refer the relevant information to the supervisory team.
As part of the legal challenge, X unsuccessfully sought a stay on the commission using the relevant complaint information pending the determination of the proceedings.
In his judgment refusing the stay earlier this month, the judge said that, in his view, lawyers for X overstated the extent to which the platform would be prejudiced in the event that a stay was not granted.
The judge further stated that X understated the public interest in the “orderly operation” of the complaints process provided for under the Digital Services Act and the Broadcasting Act 2009.
X claimed that the continuation of the commission’s investigation would cause the platform "serious and irreparable" harm.
The company argued that if the investigation reaches a conclusion prior to the legal proceedings being heard, the proceedings would be rendered moot and would deprive it of an effective remedy.
X is engaged in several legal battles brought against the media regulator. In one case before the courts, billionaire Musk is named as the plaintiff.
In ordering the award of costs to the commission on Friday, Justice Ferriter said that Neil Steen, for X, had submitted that the costs order should be considered in the context that the stay issue could be re-visited in the substantive trial, which is to be fully contested by the commission.
Steen said that, in the circumstances, the costs for the respondents in the case do not "automatically" follow and that a "reasonable and sensible" non-delay approach had been taken by X in the case in not seeking stays on other similar matters before the courts.
Fennelly said the award of costs do "follow" for the successful party, "simple as that" and that there had been no necessity for the stay application taken by X in the first place.
Justice Ferriter ordered costs in favour of the commission but then put a stay on that order pending the determination of the overall proceedings to be held over July 2nd-3rd.
