On 11 March 2017, real estate investment company db Group and owner Silvio Debono filed 19 libel cases against Daphne Caruana Galizia, an investigative journalist from Malta. Galizia had written several articles about the sale of public land to the company by the government at well below market value for the construction of a residential and commercial complex. Galizia said that Silvio Debono and his company “filed 19 libel suits by taking advantage of the fact the law allows them to sue for each comment, article, or blog post, even if the subject matter and the author are the same” and that the group was trying to silence criticism through fear and intimidation. The plaintiffs argue that Caruana Galizia attacked, slandered, and lied about the group and the people associated with it. Following an agreement reached in March 2021 between Silvio Debono and Caruana Galizia’s family, Debono dropped all 19 libel lawsuits.