EUROPE: Civil society proposes ban on SLAPPs

In 2020, over 60 civil society networks and organisations and media bodies came together to develop a proposal for a European Union-wide law against the use of strategic lawsuits against public participation (SLAPPs), which are legal actions brought by powerful and wealthy people and organisations with the intention of preventing public scrutiny, including by drawing civil society into long and expensive legal actions or encouraging them to self-censor to avoid the costs of legal action.