Spain: Energy company launches €17.6 million SLAPP lawsuit against El Confidencial - Article

MFRR partners condemn the vexatious SLAPP lawsuit against the newspaper El Confidencial by the Spanish electricity company Iberdrola, which is claiming €17.6 million for alleged “reputational damage”. The MFRR partners see the lawsuit as another example of the urgent need for the introduction of anti-SLAPP legislation at the EU and national levels and reform of the current legal provisions on protection of honour and reputation in line with international freedom of expression standards

SLAPP and democracy, side effects and collateral damage - Article

Strategic lawsuits against public participation heavily impact on the citizens' right to be informed - that is why society needs to be able to respond to and to prevent this kind of abuse of legal tools. Here is a series of analysis and perspectives inspired by cases involving journalists and human rights defenders in Italy

State of SLAPPs in Serbia - Reports

The latest report by ARTICLE 19, the American Bar Association (ABA) Center for Human Rights, and the Independent Journalists’ Association of Serbia (NUNS), analyses the provisions that are most commonly misused to file SLAPPs, strategic lawsuits against public participation, in Serbia. The report highlights patterns from multiple cases brought against journalists and activists by public officials and other powerful individuals in the past 10 years

State of SLAPPs in Spain - Reports

A country report published by Article 19, to describe how journalists and media outlets in Spain are facing multiple lawsuits for exposing corruption, reporting on matters of public concern or covering protests

Rule of Law Report 2021, targeted stakeholder consultation - Reports

The Rule of Law Report monitors significant developments, both positive and negative, relating to the rule of law in Member States. It covers four pillars: the justice system, the anti-corruption framework, media pluralism, and other institutional issues related to checks and balances

Thematic factsheet: SLAPP in Italy, a democratic emergency - Article

by Paola Rosà

A limited selection of cases from an ocean of lawsuits. A paper sent to the INI rapporteurs of the Draft Report on the strengthening democracy and media freedom and pluralism in the EU: the undue use of actions under civil and criminal law to silence journalists, NGOs and civil society

Albania: Defence Minister’s Chief of Cabinet issues legal threat against journalist - Article

The European Centre for Press and Media Freedom (ECPMF), as part of the Media Freedom Rapid Response (MFRR), is concerned about legal proceedings initiated by Belioza Çoku, the Chief of Cabinet of the Minister of Defence, against journalist Juljana Ristani, who published a story on undue interference with lists of nominees for educational bursaries in thecontext of a public competition held by the Ministry of Defence

EP Resolution: Strengthening Media Freedom: the Protection of Journalists in Europe, Hate Speech, Disinformation and the Role of Platforms - Legal Resources

European Parliament resolution of 25 November 2020 on strengthening media freedom: the protection of journalists in Europe, hate speech, disinformation and the role of platforms (2020/2009(INI)). On 25 November 2020 the European Parliament adopted a very important resolution tackling many aspects of media freedom

2020 Rule of law report - Communication and country chapters - Reports

The 2020 Rule of Law Report presents a synthesis of both the rule of law situation in the EU and an assessment of the situation in each Member State

Sued Into Silence: How the rich and powerful use legal tactics to shut critics up - Reports

A study about SLAPP, strategic lawsuits against public participation, that highlights the situation in Europe, with suggestions and inputs for the future