Your commercial news round-up: Donald Trump, Prince Harry, TikTok, Thatchers

Reading time: four minutes

From President Donald Trump’s inauguration earlier this week, Prince Harry’s long-running battle with the Sun newspaper, TikTok updates in the US and UK and Thatchers’ successful appeal in its case with Aldi, there’s a lot to get to grips with in this week’s commercial news round-up.

• President Donald Trump’s 29-minute inauguration speech on Monday 20 January featured a list of policy promises and actions he plans to take in his first 100 days as president of the US. Among these promises, Trump said he’d announce a national emergency at the Southern border and deploy national troops for immigration enforcement. Since his speech on Monday, the BBC has reported that an internal government memo suggests that up to 10,000 US troops could be sent to the Southern border to support the installation of barriers. Trump also revealed plans to remove the US from the Paris climate agreement – a move he made in 2017, which was reversed in 2021 by Joe Biden. Plus, threats of a 10% tariff on imports from China could be in place as soon as 1 February, with talks on Tuesday of tariffs being imposed on the European Union too. Stay up to date with Trump’s declarations via the BBC’s live reporting page.

• Prince Harry’s long-running battle with the Sun newspaper has been settled. The publisher has agreed to pay “substantial damages” to the Duke of Sussex after he accused journalists and private investigators working for News Group Newspapers (NGN) of using unlawful newsgathering practices to obtain information about him. NGN offered a “full and unequivocal” apology for what it described as a “serious intrusion” into Harry’s private life between 1996 and 2011. The publisher also apologised to the Duke for the impact and upset caused as a result of its extensive coverage and intrusion into the private life of Princess Diana, in particular during Harry’s younger years. The settlement is believed to be around £10 million, with a source close to Harry claiming that the apology “provides all the insight you need”. His barrister David Sherborne said that NGN has been “finally held to account for its illegal actions and its blatant disregard for the law”. An apology was also provided to Lord Watson for the News of the World’s “unwarranted intrusion” into his private life during his time in government between 2009 and 2011.

• TikTok has been restored in the US following Trump’s return to office after he signed an executive order to provide extra time for the video-hosting service to comply with a law that requires a sale or ban of the platform. In the UK, criminal solicitor Akhmed Yakoob has paid “substantial damages” to Cheryl Bennett after sharing a deepfake video to his TikTok followers during an election campaign. The video of Bennett had been manipulated by an unknown individual and resulted in Bennett facing a “torrent of abuse”. Nick McAleenan, a partner from Brabners LLP – the firm that represented Bennett – said: “It’s important that technology isn’t used to spread misleading material, especially during election campaigns”. McAleenan added that deepfakes “risk interfering with the democratic process and unfairly swaying voters.”

Elsewhere in the world of social media, as part of its new ‘breakthrough bonus programme’, Meta has offered to pay popular US creators up to $5,000 if they join Facebook and Instagram as new users. On its website, Meta states that successful creators will receive the funds during their first 90 days on the app, provided they post regularly. They’ll be expected to post a minimum of 20 reels on Facebook and 10 on Instagram every 30 days.

• Somerset-based cider company Thatchers has won its appeal in a long-running trademark battle with discount supermarket Aldi. Thatchers sued Aldi in 2022, alleging that the chain had “copycatted” its Cloudy Lemon Cider and had been “riding on the coattails” of Thatchers’ reputation. Although the case was dismissed by the High Court in January 2024, with Judge Melissa Clarke stating that the similarity between the products was low, the latest hearing saw Lord Justice Arnold rule in Thatchers’ favour. Arnold said: "The inescapable conclusion is that Aldi intended the sign to remind consumers of the trademark.
  
  "This can only have been in order to convey the message that the Aldi product was like the Thatchers product, only cheaper.” On that basis, he concluded: “Aldi intended to take advantage of the reputation of the trademark in order to assist it to sell the Aldi product.”
  
  Aldi was “disappointed” with the Court of Appeal’s decision, claiming it was “wrong”, and announced its intention to appeal.

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