Prince Harry, Elton John and other celebrities are facing the consequences of a recent legal defeat. 

On July 7, British Justice Matthew Nicklin ruled against a group of high-profile individuals—including Elizabeth Hurley—in a lawsuit claiming that the Associated Newspapers, publisher of the Daily Mail, engaged in unlawful information gathering.  

“Associated Newspapers welcomes today’s judgement, which is an overwhelming victory for the Daily Mail and its journalists, and for a free press in general,” a spokesperson for Associated Newspapers stated in a July 7 announcement to E! News. “This is a magnificent vindication of the Daily Mail’s journalism.”

In the lawsuit filed in 2022, the plaintiffs accused the newspaper organization of mobile phone hacking, landline bugging, and even home bugging across 97 separate allegations. Following the ruling, Associated Newspapers praised Judge Nicklin for his decision, which “accepted the honesty of our journalists’ evidence on how they sourced their stories.”

The publisher reiterated that the since-dismissed allegations were “lurid” and “preposterous,” claiming that these accusations were merely a fishing expedition by the claimants and their legal teams in a politically motivated effort to silence the free press.