"SLAPPs: How the rich and powerful use legal tactics to shut critics up," 22 July 2020

Across the EU, journalists, activists, academics and their organisations are facing legal threats or fighting lawsuits designed to shut them up. These lawsuits, brought by companies or powerful individuals and designed to silence critics, are called SLAPPs – Strategic Lawsuits Against Public Participation. 

While the full extent of the SLAPPs is unknown, it is clear that SLAPPs are a threat to anybody acting as a ‘watchdog’ in society, exposing wrongdoing by powerful businesses and individuals. The result is a tangible limitation of the EU’s fundamental rights to freedom of expression and information, and the right to protest.

[This report concludes that] the EU has the opportunity to become a global anti-SLAPP leader. It should introduce legally binding measures and financial support to protect all those affected by SLAPPs, to strengthen our democracies and defend the EU fundamental rights to freedom of expression and participation.