Juror in the Depp v. Heard trial says the jury wasn't swayed by social media: 'We followed the evidence'

• A juror in the Depp v. Heard defamation trial spoke to "Good Morning America" about the verdict.
• He refuted claims that the jury was swayed by social media, saying it "followed the evidence."

A juror in Johnny Depp and Amber Heard's defamation trial has refuted claims that social media swayed the seven-person jury.

"Social media did not impact us. We followed the evidence. We didn't take into account anything outside [the courtroom]. We only looked at the evidence," an unnamed juror said on Thursday in an interview with "Good Morning America."

"They were very serious accusations and a lot of money involved. So we weren't taking it lightly," the juror told "GMA."

Per the outlet, he added that he and "at least two other jurors" do not use Twitter or Facebook. "Others who had it made a point not to talk about it," he continued.

The anonymous juror's comments come days after Heard said that the social media backlash she received during the trial wasn't "fair" to her.

"Even somebody who is sure I'm deserving of all this hate and vitriol, even if you think that I'm lying, you still couldn't tell me — look me in the eye and tell me — that you think on social media there's been a fair representation," she said during an interview on the "Today" show.

Earlier this month, Heard's lawyer, Elaine Charlson Bredehoft, claimed that the "lopsided" social media frenzy surrounding the trial had influenced the jury.

"How can you not? They went home every night. They have families. The families are on social media," she said on the "Today" show. "There's no way they couldn't have been influenced by it."

The six-week-long trial in Virginia drew the nation's attention, with many content creators pivoting to round-the-clock coverage of the legal proceedings. Long before the verdict, however, there was already a clear winner on social media: Depp.

On TikTok, the hashtag #justiceforjohnnydepp has 20.5 billion views, while #justiceforamberheard has around 97 million views.

On June 1, jurors found both parties liable for defamation against each other but awarded more financial damages to Depp.

They awarded Depp $15 million in damages, finding that Heard defamed him when she described herself as a victim of domestic violence in a 2018 Washington Post op-ed. The jury also found that Heard's statements were false and made with "actual malice" against her ex-husband.

However, they also found Depp liable for defamation against Heard when one of his attorneys claimed her allegations of sexual abuse were a "hoax." They awarded Heard $2 million in compensatory damages and no punitive damages.