THE piece highlights how data protection rules are increasingly being used to chill investigative reporting across Europe, with injunctions, superinjunctions, DMCA takedowns and SLAPPs all part of the wider trend. It notes a growing use of GDPR-related “right to erasure” provisions by claimants aiming to force media outlets to delete published stories.
According to Times of Malta, the fourth edition of the SLAPPs Report, prepared by the Daphne Caruana Galizia Foundation on behalf of the Coalition Against SLAPPs in Europe (CASE), tracks cases across 29 European countries and shows that in 2024 there were 167 new SLAPP cases in those jurisdictions, led by Italy with 21, Germany with 20 and Serbia with 13.
The report observes that more than two-thirds of those new SLAPP suits were filed by businesspeople or politicians and that most focused on reporting about alleged corruption and environmental issues. It also points to a trend of claimants invoking GDPR-related rights to pressurise media houses, urging closer bolstering of EU protections for press freedom, according to the analysis accompanying the report.