Reconciling data protection and ‘new media’: The judgment in Legal Newsdesk Sweden (Case C-199/24)

Lorna Woods, Professor Emerita, University of Essex Photo credit: Océanos y dados, via Wikimedia commons Introduction This case deals with one of the perennial questions that has faced legal regimes which recognise special treatment for journalism and new media since the advent of “new media”, that is, how far are such exceptions and preferential treatment extended? While a question for individual States to balance the freedom of expression concerns with other rights and societal interests, for the EU there is also the fact that Member States seemingly take very different approaches. The Swedish rules, the subject of this case, provide broad protections and exemptions from data protection rules; but are they compatible with the GDPR? The Facts The case originated when ND, who had been convicted a criminal offence, sought to have details of that offence removed from the database provided, for a fee, by Legal Newsdesk Sweden. The database allows individuals and businesses to search for…