Legal actions and threatened legal actions are increasingly used against journalists and media organisations to attempt to silence their reporting and stop their work. SLAPPs (‘Strategic Lawsuits Against Public Participation’) are typically brought by powerful individuals or corporations with the intention of harassing, intimidating, and financially or psychologically exhausting opponents via improper use of the legal system, and evading scrutiny in the public interest. They are often framed as defamation cases brought by wealthy individuals against investigative journalists, writers and publishers. SLAPPs undermine freedom of speech and the rule of law.

This expert panel will examine the growing global trends in the use of SLAPPs, and efforts to tackle them (including anti-SLAPP laws in the USA, Canada and Europe).