After years of technical objections, newspaper defeats key motions by steel giant and its lawyers as US$10M-plus damages battle moves closer to trial
MONROVIA — The courtroom at Liberia’s Civil Law Court became the center of intense legal attention Monday as a four-year-old battle between a Liberian newspaper and one of the world’s largest steel and mining companies took a dramatic turn, with Concord Times Newspaper prevailing on a series of technical motions filed by ArcelorMittal and its lawyers.
The case, which has its roots in the controversial shutdown of the newspaper’s online platform in October 2020, has been delayed for years by preliminary and procedural challenges.
But Monday’s proceedings produced what the newspaper considers a significant breakthrough.
According to the proceedings described by the newspaper, the Civil Law Court rejected or disposed of key procedural challenges brought by ArcelorMittal and the London-based law firm Schillings, including motions seeking to remove ArcelorMittal from the action, dismiss the case and address Schillings/ArcelorMittal’s appearance before the court.
The consequence is potentially significant: the litigation can now move beyond the procedural battlefield and toward the substantive questions at the heart of the dispute.
Did ArcelorMittal and the other defendants unlawfully cause the Concord Times website to be shut down?
Was the newspaper deprived of its platform and livelihood without the matter first being determined by a court?
And, if the court ultimately finds liability, what damages—if any—should be awarded?
Those questions remain unresolved.
They are precisely the issues that the trial on the merits is expected to determine.
A FOUR-YEAR LEGAL BATTLE
The lawsuit was filed after the online version of Concord Times was abruptly taken offline in October 2020 following a dispute over investigative articles published by the newspaper concerning ArcelorMittal’s activities in Liberia.
Reporters Without Borders (RSF), which investigated the episode, reported that the website was shut down after ArcelorMittal’s lawyers contacted a United Kingdom-based hosting company concerning articles the steel company considered defamatory. RSF reported that the entire website was subsequently rendered inaccessible, rather than merely the disputed articles.
The dispute began after Concord Times published a series of investigative reports concerning the history of ArcelorMittal’s acquisition of a Liberian iron-ore concession.
According to RSF, Schillings wrote to Concord Times on July 22, 2020—two days after publication of the third installment of the investigation—requesting that the articles be removed because ArcelorMittal considered them defamatory.
The newspaper refused.
What followed would transform a dispute over newspaper articles into a much larger legal confrontation over press freedom, internet access, corporate power and the question of who has the authority to determine whether journalistic content is defamatory.
THE WEBSITE THAT DISAPPEARED
On October 1, 2020, according to RSF’s account, Concord Times publisher and editor Lyndon Ponnie was informed by Francis Delamou, the newspaper’s local website-hosting contact, that the site had been shut down.
The following day, the website was inaccessible.
The shutdown was particularly devastating because the online platform had become an important part of the newspaper’s operations.
In his complaint to the Press Union of Liberia at the time, Ponnie alleged that the website had been taken down after lawyers representing ArcelorMittal contacted a UK-based hosting company over what they characterized as “fake news.”
RSF later reported that ArcelorMittal’s lawyers had indeed contacted the British host and sought removal of the disputed material.
ArcelorMittal, however, subsequently told RSF that while it had asked the host to remove the allegedly defamatory articles, it had not asked for the entire Concord Times website to be suspended.
That distinction could become important as the case proceeds to trial.
THE CENTRAL QUESTION: WHO SHUT DOWN THE NEWSPAPER?
The controversy involves a chain of companies and individuals connected to the hosting of Concord Times.
The newspaper’s lawsuit names ArcelorMittal, Schillings, its Liberian hosting contact and UK-based hosting entities, alleging that they played roles in the disabling of the website.
RSF reported that LiquidNet, a UK-based host, ultimately blocked access to the site after receiving correspondence from ArcelorMittal’s lawyers.
RSF also reported that the hosting companies provided different explanations about their respective roles, while the newspaper maintained that it had dealt directly with its Liberian host and had no contractual relationship with the British companies.
The case therefore raises a question larger than the fate of one newspaper:
Can a private company, following a complaint from a powerful corporate client, effectively take an entire news organization off the internet before a court has determined that the disputed reporting is defamatory?
That question will ultimately be answered through the evidence and applicable Liberian law.
US$10 MILLION-PLUS CLAIM
Ponnie’s lawsuit seeks substantial damages arising from the shutdown.
RSF reported that the claim includes US$12,000 in specific damages, principally associated with lost advertising revenue, and more than US$10 million in general damages connected to the alleged arbitrary, unilateral and forced closure of the website.
The damages sought do not mean that the newspaper has been awarded US$10 million.
The amount remains a claim before the court, and whether any damages are ultimately awarded—and in what amount—will depend upon the evidence, legal findings and eventual judgment.
FROM THE HEADLINES TO THE COURTROOM
For Concord Times, however, the significance of Monday’s proceedings goes beyond money.
The newspaper has spent approximately four years fighting its way through procedural obstacles before reaching the substantive questions.
Earlier proceedings were repeatedly centered on technical and jurisdictional issues rather than the underlying allegations surrounding the website shutdown.
In 2023, reports indicated that the Civil Law Court had scheduled proceedings in the case after Concord Times filed its lawsuit seeking damages exceeding US$10 million.
Now, with the latest procedural challenges reportedly overcome, the newspaper is asking the court to proceed with the remaining legal issues as a matter of procedure and, thereafter, allow the case to advance to a trial on its merits.
That would represent a major change in the character of the litigation.
For years, the battle has largely been about whether the case could proceed.
The next battle could finally become about what actually happened.
THE ALLEGED POWER IMBALANCE
The case has also attracted international attention because it pits a Liberian media organization against ArcelorMittal, a multinational steel and mining conglomerate with major interests in Liberia.
For the newspaper, the dispute has never been simply about the removal of three investigative articles.
It argues that the shutdown effectively crippled an entire news platform.
RSF described the episode as an example of how a dispute involving allegations of defamation resulted in the blocking of an entire news website, noting that the newspaper was not given an opportunity to have the underlying allegations adjudicated by a court before the site became inaccessible.
ArcelorMittal’s position, as reported by RSF, is materially different: the company said it sought removal of the allegedly defamatory material but did not request that the entire website be suspended. Schillings also told RSF that after learning the entire site had been suspended, it asked for the site to be restored with only the disputed articles removed.
Those competing accounts make the coming trial particularly important.
THE HUMILIATION CLAIM
For Concord Times, the shutdown was not merely a technical interruption.
The newspaper has characterized the episode as an attack on its existence, arguing that its website was its principal source of livelihood and that shutting it down affected its ability to publish, generate advertising revenue and maintain its journalistic operations.
In its 2020 complaint to the Press Union of Liberia, Ponnie said the closure had placed the newspaper’s staff and their earning power at risk.
The newspaper also argued that if ArcelorMittal believed the reports were false or defamatory, the company had legal avenues available in Liberia to challenge the publication.
Instead, according to the newspaper’s account, the dispute moved into the domain of international lawyers and web-hosting companies, culminating in the disappearance of the entire online platform.
Whether that amounted to unlawful conduct is now a matter for the Liberian courts.
A TEST FOR LIBERIA’S JUSTICE SYSTEM
The case could ultimately become an important test of the boundaries between corporate reputation, freedom of the press, digital publishing, due process and the authority of courts over alleged defamatory speech.
There is also a broader institutional question.
If a corporation believes a news report is false, should the dispute be resolved through the courts, where evidence can be tested and both parties can be heard?
Or can a private intermediary effectively determine that disputed journalism violates its terms of service and remove an entire media organization from the internet?
Those questions are not merely academic in an era in which a newspaper’s website can be its printing press, newsroom archive, advertising platform and primary connection with readers.
THE NEXT BATTLE: THE MERITS
With the latest procedural hurdles reportedly cleared, Concord Times is now urging the Civil Law Court to proceed with disposition of the remaining legal issues and ultimately move the matter to trial on the merits.
That is where the evidence will matter.
The court will have to examine the correspondence between the parties, the investigative reports that triggered the dispute, communications between ArcelorMittal’s lawyers and the hosting companies, the contractual arrangements governing the website, the circumstances surrounding the shutdown and the legal basis upon which the website was disabled.
It will also have to determine the respective responsibilities, if any, of ArcelorMittal, Schillings and the other defendants.
For now, Monday’s proceedings do not constitute a final judgment that ArcelorMittal or its lawyers unlawfully shut down the Concord Times website.
But procedurally, the newspaper says it has crossed a critical hurdle.
After nearly four years of technical battles, the courtroom door to the substantive dispute is now opening.
And when the trial on the merits finally begins, the central question will no longer simply be whether Concord Times can bring its case.
It will be whether the evidence proves that a Liberian newspaper was unlawfully silenced—and, if so, who should be held responsible.
The stakes are no longer just about a website. They are about the power to publish, the right to challenge alleged wrongdoing, and the limits of corporate power in Liberia’s digital media space.
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