The Coalition Against SLAPPs in Europe (CASE) and the Daphne Caruana Galizia Foundation published the 2025 edition of their flagship annual report, SLAPPs in Europe: Democracy in the Dock.
The report, based on methodology developed by the Amsterdam Law Clinics in 2019, reveals a further increase in the number of abusive lawsuits across Europe. The trend endures despite the EU’s 2024 anti-SLAPP law, which Member States must transpose into national law by May 2026.
Introduction (excerpt):
“Since the Coalition Against SLAPPs in Europe (CASE) began its comprehensive mapping, 1,303 SLAPP cases have been identified across the period between 2010 and 2024. The increasing numbers demonstrate that the threat to freedom of expression shows no sign of abatement, with 167 new SLAPPs initiated in 2024 alone. These vexatious lawsuits, often dressed up as a defamation claim, are not designed to secure legal victory, as evidenced by numerous cases where the case is dropped by the plaintiff prior to the completion of the justice process, but to inflict debilitating psychological, financial and reputational harm, thereby inducing a powerful ‘chilling effect’ on fundamental freedoms guaranteed by the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR).
2024 marked a pivotal legislative development with the adoption of the EU Anti-SLAPP Directive (Directive (EU) 2024/1069) paired with the Commission Recommendation (EU) 2022/758, and further reinforced by the Council of Europe Recommendation CM/Rec(2024). CASE supports this milestone as the first binding framework expressly designed to protect public participation.
Nevertheless, significant challenges persist. Experts in the field have pointed out that the Directive offers only minimum harmonisation and confines itself to cross-border civil and commercial cases, leaving the vast majority of SLAPPs that are domestic, the daily battleground of journalists and activists, beyond its immediate reach.”