CEE/Newsletter/Newsroom/SLAPPs against CEE
- By: Ivo Kruusamägi
The European Parliament has now adopted the anti-SLAPPs Directive (aka Daphne’s law). But what are the SLAPPs, how they might affect Wikimedia and how should we handle them in the CEE region?
SLAPP suits or Strategic Lawsuits Against Public Participation are "lawsuits intended to censor, intimidate, and silence critics by burdening them with the cost of a legal defense until they abandon their criticism or opposition" as we might read from the English Wikipedia. In short: that is a method of drowning your opponents into a legal concrete.
Where it really gets interesting is that in addition to all the journalists and human rights defenders, sometimes even Wikipedians get sued. In the CEE region, the two examples might be when Ivo Kruusamägi got sued by an Estonian businessman and Toni Sant was officially threatened with a lawsuit by a Maltese writer. These are just more known cases and there are even more in Western Europe.
To stop this misuse of the legal system, the European Parliament has adopted this new directive, however, it is the implementation that matters. Will it be written into member state laws in ways that would really protect the free sharing of information? Will it have only an effect on cross-border cases when most of the legal cases are within one country (like the two examples provided above)? It is suitable to remind that information does not know borders and if sharing of information could be blocked in one country, it may never reach the others.
There are many ways of making the legislation weaker or stronger. Civil society has a lot to gain only if the directive is implemented in a stronger way. For that reason, Wikimedia organizations should also have a say on this. So spread the information, show up as public watchdogs and also voice our concerns.
While writing this article, out of all the CEE countries there are Wikipedia articles on SLAPP only in Bulgarian, Chech, Estonian, German, Greek, and Russian. That doesn't leave the impression that we are putting as much attention to this as we should. Especially, at a time when public servants might be looking for this information, we should make sure there is sufficient and high-quality information readily available. It is easier to make good legislation if people know what they are dealing with.
Better access to information on the topic might lead to better legislation. The time to act is now! Help to share the information both online and offline. Let’s draw attention that the SLAPP protection must cover all cases and should also apply within countries.
See also the post by Wikimedia Europe. That also points out to recommendations by coalition against SLAPPs in Europe that we should just as well pay attention:
- Early dismissal mechanism
- Definition of cross-border dimension
- Compensation of damages
Cover photo: Michele Failla and Ivo Kruusamägi in Palace of Europe right before Coalition Against SLAPPs in Europe event this February to draw attention that even Wikipedias might get SLAPPed and would therefore need some protection.