Companies politicians are using GDPR to shut journalists up report warns

pReport into SLAPP cases across Europe flags changing legal tactics and a problem with EU lawppCompanies entrepreneurs and politicians are increasingly leaning on the EUs data protection rules to force journalists to back away from critical reporting about them a new report has warned ppThe report into SLAPP Strategic Lawsuits and Against Public Participation across Europe also notes that an EUwide law intended to shield the media from such lawsuits must be bolstered if it is to work as intendedppNow in its fourth edition the annual SLAPPs Report prepared by the Daphne Caruana Galizia Foundation on behalf of the Coalition Against SLAPPs in Europe CASE tracks reports of SLAPP cases across 29 European countries    ppIn 2024 alone 167 new SLAPP cases were filed across those 29 jurisdictions Italy led the pack with 21 new suits followed by Germany 20 and Serbia 13ppMore than two out of every three of those new SLAPP suits were filed by businesspeople or politicians Most focused on reporting about alleged corruption and environmental issues ppWhile traditionally SLAPP cases leaned on defamation laws when making legal arguments there is a growing trend for claimants citing GDPRrelated right to erasure provisions to try and force media houses to delete published storiesppThe GDPR or General Data Protection Regulation is the EUs principal data protection law The regulation includes provisions allowing data subjects to request the deletion of information about them While the GDPR includes a public interest exemption requests are assessed on a casebycase basis and the exemption is regularly challenged  ppAbusers are testing and deploying data protection law as a substitute for defamation thereby accelerating censorship through the threat of immediate regulatory action the report warnsppClaimants are also leveraging copyright claims to try and suppress reporting filing lawsuits on the basis of copyright breaches without ever having to contest the factual accuracy of reporting about them the report said  ppSLAPP suits are not only targeting journalists the report notes in some cases companies have filed lawsuits against reviewers who posted negative reviews about their services online         ppOf the 1303 SLAPP cases tracked by the initiative between 2010 and 2024 a massive 91 per cent could potentially not be covered by the EUs antiSLAPP lawppThe EU introduced an antiSLAPP law in May 2024 and member states have until May of this year to transpose it into national law Malta transposed the law that same yearppHowever that law only applies to crossborder SLAPP lawsuits in which journalists or media houses in one member state are vexatiously sued by a party in anotherpppp Attached filesppMore than nine out of every 10 SLAPP lawsuits are domestic the CASE report notes While the EU law defines crossborder quite broadly report writers warn that the vast majority of SLAPP cases fall under the domestic definition and will therefore not qualify for protection under the EU lawppThe EUwide law which has been informally dubbed Daphnes law in memory of murdered journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia would ironically not have protected Caruana Galizia from the SLAPP suits she faced as those lawsuits were filed by Maltabased claimantsppCaruana Galizia faced 48 separate lawsuits at the time of her murder with many of those cases inherited by her relatives following her death  ppMalta has so far shot down pressure to bolster its antiSLAPP law to also cover domestic SLAPP casesppThe 1303 documented SLAPP cases flagged by the report are most likely the tip of the iceberg the report warns because in many cases media houses or journalists are compelled to back down by the threat of litigation before cases reach the courtsppIn other cases media houses are so inundated with lawsuits that compiling information about each case would require resources that the target does not have access toppYou can unsubscribe at any time by clicking the link in the footer of our emails We use
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ppAustrian who lost 500000 on Maltese gaming site loses bid for a refundppParking in their garage was a nightmare Then they spoke to Times of MaltappTo view comments please register for free or log in to your accountp