"Leading experts call for the Anti-SLAPP Bill to be amended to ensure it can protect everyone speaking out in the public interest," 11 April 2024

Over sixty editors, journalists, writers, publishers, academics, and experts have written to [the] Justice Secretary... calling on the Government to support amendments to the Strategic Litigation Against Public Participation Bill...

The signatories are calling on the Government to address the fundamental flaw at the centre of the Bill’s early dismissal mechanism that requires a court to make a subjective judgement as to the intent of a SLAPP claimant in order to determine whether the legal action can be identified as a SLAPP. They echo concerns... that identifying a claimant’s intent “is a notoriously difficult, time-intensive, expensive and uncertain process that would undermine the effective operation of the protections the law provides.”...

“If enacted in its current form, the Bill risks becoming an ineffective, inaccessible, and ultimately redundant legal instrument,” the letter said...

The signatories also called for the definition of public interest in the Bill to be refined in order to further strengthen the legislation...