Virginia Court Upholds $200,000 Defamation Verdict Against Substack Blogger

Yaacov Apelbaum, a cybersecurity and facial-recognition specialist, and his company XRVision sued Substack writer Jordan Arthur Bloom for alleging that Apelbaum was an Israeli intelligence operative. The jury found Bloom's statements false, defamatory per se, and made with actual malice, assigning $75,000 in compensatory and $125,000 in punitive damages for each of two claims. Bloom sought to overturn the verdict, but the court rejected the request and clarified that the combined award should be $200,000 rather than the $800,000 initially calculated due to errors in the special verdict form.

The judge emphasized that the statements were not matters of public concern and that Bloom failed to verify the allegations despite available sources contradicting his claims. The decision underscores the liability of online publishers who disseminate unverified accusations. Plaintiffs were represented by Timothy Hyland, Jamie Michelle Hertz, and John C. Burns.