Illustration by Joro Chen, Brand Designer at Substack
This week marked a big win for independent journalists and First Amendment rights.
On Wednesday, the California First District Appellate Court affirmed that the defamation suit brought by tech CEO Maury Blackman against journalist Jack Poulson and Substack was without merit. In his Substack, All-Source Intelligence, Poulson reported that Blackman was arrested in 2021 on suspicion of domestic violence. Because Blackman was the president and CEO of Premise Data, a company with ties to the government and U.S. military, the court confirmed that his arrest records were matters of public interest and that the First Amendment protected Poulson’s work.
We started Substack Defender to assist independent journalists facing exactly these kinds of threats: spurious lawsuits from executives, politicians, or other powerful people who abuse the legal system in an effort to shut writers up. Lawsuits like this are daunting for journalists—even if their reporting is fully protected by the First Amendment, the prospect of having to pay hundreds of thousands of dollars in legal fees can make it impossible to do their work. That’s where provisions like anti-SLAPP laws come into play, and where programs like Substack Defender make a difference. We take great pleasure in using our resources to help protect writers from being bullied in this way. And it’s gratifying that in this case, the court not only agreed but upheld the awarding of attorney’s fees to the defendants.
We will be putting the $240,000 in legal fees we’ll be recouping toward defending the next independent journalist who someone powerful tries to silence.
The Substack Defender program offers access to legal support as part of our efforts to uphold a free press and free speech, which we believe are fundamental to a trustworthy media system. The program provides crucial legal protection for Substack publishers against certain types of claims, including access to advice and financial support for publishers who face legal uncertainty or pressure because of their work.
