Harvard professor Lessig sues NY Times for 'clickbait defamation' over
Jeffrey Epstein story
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[January 14, 2020]
By Jonathan Stempel
NEW YORK (Reuters) - A prominent Harvard
Law School professor sued The New York Times on Monday, claiming it
engaged in "clickbait defamation" by falsely suggesting he once approved
of accepting donations from the late accused sex offender Jeffrey
Epstein.
Lawrence Lessig said the Times published an article headlined "A Harvard
Professor Doubles Down: If You Take Epstein's Money, Do It In Secret"
last Sept. 14 with reckless disregard for its truth.
He also said it refused to change the headline and first paragraph after
he told the paper they falsely suggested he defended soliciting
donations from Epstein.
A Times spokeswoman said: "Senior editors reviewed the story after
Professor Lessig complained and were satisfied that the story accurately
reflected his statements. We plan to defend against the claim
vigorously."
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The Times article was published six days after Lessig wrote an essay on
Medium supporting his friend Joichi Ito, who resigned as director of the
Media Lab at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology after accepting
donations from Epstein.
Lessig had written it was a mistake to solicit the donations, but also
wrong for Ito to be "scapegoated."
The Times article began: "It is hard to defend soliciting donations from
the convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. But Lawrence Lessig, a
Harvard Law professor, has been trying."
Lessig accused the Times of embracing clickbaiting, "the use of a
shocking headline and/or lede to entice readers to click on a particular
article," despite being "fully aware" that the practice could harm the
reputation of its targets.
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![](../images/011420pics/news_b3.jpg)
U.S. Democratic presidential candidate Lawrence Lessig speaks at the
New Hampshire Democratic Party State Convention in Manchester, New
Hampshire September 19, 2015. REUTERS/Brian Snyder
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Lessig's complaint in Boston federal court seeks unspecified damages
from the Times, executive editor Dean Baquet, business editor Ellen
Pollock and reporter Nellie Bowles.
Epstein pleaded not guilty to federal charges he trafficked dozens
of underage girls, before the financier was found dead in his jail
cell last Aug. 10 at age 66.
An autopsy found that Epstein hanged himself. Epstein had pleaded
guilty to lesser Florida state charges in 2008.
The complaint calls Lessig a "nationally prominent professor and
legal scholar with a large social media following," and his Harvard
biography quotes the New Yorker calling him "the most important
thinker on intellectual property in the Internet era."
It is unclear whether Lessig is a "public figure" who must show the
Times acted with actual malice in publishing its article.
Lessig said in an email that if the Times knew before and after
publication of its article's "falsity," as he alleged, "there's no
reason that knowledge should have affected their obligations."
The case is Lessig v New York Times Co et al, U.S. District Court,
District of Massachusetts, No. 20-10060.
(Reporting by Jonathan Stempel in New York; Editing by Noeleen
Walder and Tom Brown)
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