Safeguarding Freedom of Expression
Strategic Lawsuits Against Public Participation (SLAPPs) are civil, criminal, and administrative legal actions that are threatened, initiated or pursued as a means of harassing or intimidating their target, and which seek to prevent, inhibit, restrict or penalise free expression on matters of public interest and the exercise of rights associated with public participation. These lawsuits, often frivolous or disproportionate, leverage judicial processes to drain the financial resources and energy of defendants, significantly impairing their ability to participate in public discourse and advocacy effectively. As such, SLAPPs constitute a significant policy issue insofar as they represent a profound threat to fundamental democratic values, including freedom of expression, freedom of assembly, press freedom, access to justice, and the overall rule of law.
This project developed a series of three events dedicated to tackling the growing threat that private and state-sponsored SLAPPs and similar practices pose to freedom of expression and public participation in France.
Webinar – Safeguarding Freedom of Expression against Attempts to Curtail Public Participation: Lessons for France from Canada, Mexico, and Indonesia
This event aimed to reframe the issue of SLAPPs in France through the lens of international experiences, focusing on lessons learned from Canada, Mexico, and Indonesia. Through the analysis of these jurisdictions, the event provided fresh perspectives on how different legal and policy frameworks have addressed SLAPPs and what challenges they have faced in doing so.
Participatory Workshop – “Vers un cadre anti-SLAPP robuste en France : formuler des recommandations communes à la société civile”
This second event, designed as a participatory workshop, served to critically deepen the analysis initiated during the first event. It notably examined the comparative findings through the lens of their underlying assumptions and practical implications, with the aim of co-developing policy recommendations, endorsed by a large group of civil society actors, that are both legally robust and contextually grounded. The objective is not only to advocate for a more inclusive and ambitious transposition of the EU Directive, that integrates the Council of Europe Committee of Ministers’ recommendations. This entails reinforcing the capacity of the French legal system to shield individuals and organisations from the burden of SLAPPs, while safeguarding the essential role of civil society in holding powerful actors to account and fostering civic space. The third and final event took the form of a roundtable aimed at presenting a refined set of policy proposals to French decisionmakers, which was made publicly available in the form of a policy brief.
Webinar – France in the face of SLAPPs: a debate on the decriminalisation of defamation in light of comparative practices
The third event provided a forum for discussion to weigh the arguments for and against the decriminalisation of defamation, taking into account the French legal and historical context as well as lessons learned from experiences abroad. The issue goes beyond mere legislative technique: it is a question of determining whether such a reform would effectively strengthen freedom of information and democratic participation, or whether it would, on the contrary, risk opening the door to new strategies of judicial intimidation. The fundamental question remains whether the 1881 law, designed to respond to the challenges of the 19th century, is still relevant for protecting freedom of expression in the 21st century, or whether it needs to be rethought to address the current realities of SLAPPs.
Resources
Canada
Mexico
Indonesia
Europe
France
This project is part of the Building for the Future Initiative, coordinated by On Think Tanks (OTT) and supported by the Open Society Foundations, to amplify student and youth-led think tank initiatives, diverse perspectives and advance innovative policy solutions across Europe and beyond, and encourage the exchange of good practices among regions.
