The worrisome phenomenon of SLAPPs in Europe: the new 2024 CASE Report

An increasing number of volunteers became the target of SLAPPs, particularly due to the widespread reach of Wikipedia. In the last ten years, more than a half of the reported SLAPP cases involving Wikipedians have taken place in Europe.

SLAPPs is an acronym, which stands for Strategic Lawsuits Against Public Participation, used to refer to lawsuits that are not initiated to genuinely assert a right, but to intimidate and silence critics. In such cases, plaintiffs are often powerful natural or legal persons who abuse their position and power, and ultimately also the legal system, to restrict the exercise of freedom of expression of journalists, activists, whistleblowers, artists, trade unions and so on. The negative consequences on the public debate and the right of the public to receive information, opinions and ideas in order to meaningfully participate in the democratic life are blatant. In other words, SLAPPs are a serious threat to fundamental rights and democracy. Unfortunately, this phenomenon has increasingly affected Wikipedians: one could think of the recent lawsuits started in Germany, Portugal or Estonia. Wikimedia Europe has since 2023 joined CASE, i.e. the Coalition Against SLAPPs in Europe, which has been actively advocating for the adoption of the anti-SLAPP Directive and yearly publishes a report identifying SLAPP cases and relevant trends.

From the recently released CASE 2024 SLAPPs Report analysing the situation in Europe between 2010 and 2023, it clearly emerges a growing trend of this vexatious form of lawsuits: in 2023 there have been 166 new cases and a total number of 1049 lawsuits has been reported in the period of reference (2010-2013).

Such numbers are a clear indication of how this worrisome phenomenon is far from being resolved in Europe: freedom of expression and the fundamental value of democracy cannot be taken for granted and need to be daily nurtured and protected.