Abusive lawsuits aimed at silencing journalists, activists, and other public watchdogs continue to rise across Europe, according to the 2025 Annual SLAPPs Report by the Coalition Against SLAPPs in Europe (CASE) and the Daphne Caruana Galizia Foundation, despite the EU’s new Anti-SLAPP Directive entering into force in May 2024. The report records 167 new SLAPP cases in 2024, bringing the total number documented since 2010 to 1,303. SLAPPs are now recorded in 43 countries, with Montenegro and Andorra newly added. While defamation remains the most common legal basis, powerful actors are increasingly using more complex legal claims, such as data protection and intellectual property, to bypass public interest safeguards. Businesses and politicians remain the most frequent litigants, and the political use of SLAPPs is growing, particularly in countries facing rule-of-law backsliding. The report stresses that the true scale of the problem is much larger, as many cases never reach court and are resolved through legal threats and cease-and-desist letters, often reinforced by the continued existence of criminal defamation laws. Read more here.
Source: CASE Coalition
