SLAPPs: what's next?


15/04/2022

Trouble with the Truth with Lana Estemirova presents an overview of legal issues and victims' stories about strategic lawsuits against public participation

SLAPPs or Strategic Lawsuits against Public Participation are lawsuits that are designed not to win in court but rather to silence, intimidate and bankrupt the defendants.

Over the past years, this type of vexatious litigation has become a tool to stifle independent journalists all over the world, especially those who write about the rich and powerful.

London had a reputation for being a “libel capital” for a while and the Defamation Act of 2013 did very little to change it.

This new episode of Trouble with the Truth unpacks the term SLAPPs and takes a look at how defamation suits are being used to gag free media.

Our guest Rebecca Vincent from Reporters without Borders talks about the case of the Guardian journalists Carole Cadwalladr who is being sued for libel by British businessman Aaron Banks. All over twenty-three words that she said at her 2019 Ted Talk.

Scott Stedman, the founder of Forensic News, explains why he is being sued in the English Court by a British-Israeli citizen Walter Soriano, although the journalist never stepped foot on the British soil.

Finally, Susan Coughtrie from the Foreign Policy Centre outlines the steps taken to tackle the problem of SLAPPs in the UK.