Europe passes a directive against abusive lawsuits meant to silence journalists

The European Union published Directive (EU) 2024/1069 in April 2024, designed to protect journalists, activists and rights defenders from so-called SLAPP lawsuits: abusive legal proceedings whose goal is not to win, but to exhaust those who report the news financially and emotionally.

The law, pushed forward after the 2017 murder of Maltese journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia — who was facing dozens of lawsuits at the time of her death — establishes the possibility of early dismissal of manifestly unfounded claims, cost awards against abusive claimants, and protection against judgments from third countries issued in such proceedings.

The directive applies to civil matters with cross-border implications, although the Council of Europe recommended that states extend the safeguards to domestic cases too. The transposition deadline expired in May 2026.

Source: EUR-Lex, Official Journal of the European Union.