What is SLAPP?

Have you ever suffered an injustice and felt the need to speak out? Imagine living in a country where civil society advocates, community leaders, whistleblowers, journalists, and ordinary people can’t criticize the powerful. This is not as far-fetched as it might seem: it is already happening all over the world. Including the United States.

The time to act is now.

In a democracy, people who speak out in the public interest should not face retribution. We all have the right to speak freely on issues of public interest, protest peacefully, and petition the government, even when that means criticizing those in power.

“Strategic Lawsuits Against Public Participation” (SLAPPs) are a particularly dangerous form of lawsuit. SLAPPs target civil society advocates, community leaders, journalists, whistleblowers, and everyday people who exercise their Constitutional rights. SLAPPs masquerade as ordinary civil lawsuits, but their true purpose is to silence criticism.

Judges will usually dismiss a civil lawsuit that is frivolous, but a SLAPP does not need to be successful in court to have its intended effect. The goal of a SLAPP is to retaliate against critics. Even a meritless lawsuit can drag on for years, draining a defendant’s resources through costly and time-consuming litigation. The lawsuit can also take a toll on the defendant’s reputation and morale. In many cases, SLAPP bullies hope that the lawsuit will end in a binding settlement that muzzles the critic’s future rights to free speech.

How can you distinguish a SLAPP from an ordinary civil lawsuit? As the First Amendment Project explains, “No one ever admits to filing a SLAPP.” SLAPPs will usually be disguised as traditional personal injury cases, such as lawsuits for defamation.

You can generally identify a SLAPP by its telltale signs:

Targets protected First Amendment activity: Does the lawsuit target activity that is clearly a constitutionally protected form of free speech, peaceful protest, or petitioning of the government?

Exploits a power imbalance: Is the plaintiff apparently trying to exploit its economic advantage to put pressure on the defendant?

Threatens to bankrupt the defendant: Are the remedies sought unusually aggressive or disproportionate to the conduct targeted?

Attempts to remain in court as long as possible: Is the plaintiff engaged in procedural maneuvers that appear intended to drag out the case or drive up costs, such as pursuing appeals with little prospect of success?

Casts a wide net: Does the lawsuit target individuals as well as the organizations for which they work? Is the lawsuit part of a wider public relations offensive designed to bully or intimidate critics?

Follows a pattern of serial bullying: Does the plaintiff have a history of using SLAPPs or threatening legal action in order to scare critics into silence?

The Protect the Protest task force is committed to ending the threat that SLAPPs pose to civil society, free speech, and democracy more broadly. If SLAPP bullies have their way, the impacts of their lawsuits could ripple through society, creating a chilling effect on free speech. People would stop criticizing the powerful for fear of retaliation. Public interest advocates would choose to stay silent, rather than to speak truth to power. We must defend our rights to speak out, to criticize, to engage, and to protest peacefully. Because democracy needs dissent.

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For more information about SLAPPs, please visit the following pages:

Who is vulnerable? – SLAPPs pose a threat to a wide range of individuals and organizations working in the public interest. Here are some recent, emblematic cases.
Know your rights – You can reduce your risk of SLAPPs by taking certain precautionary measures.
Get help – If you have been sued or face the threat of a SLAPP, here are some immediate steps to consider.
Our cases – Learn more about the work of the task force and its individual members.
Help us end SLAPP – There is wide support for ending SLAPPs. What we need now is unified action.

An Activist’s Guide: Reducing Exposure to SLAPP Lawsuits

March 12, 2019

Tags: guide, help, know your rights

The Protect the Protest task force encourages activists, community organizers, and public interest organizations in the United States to read An Activist’s Guide: Reducing Exposure to SLAPP Lawsuits. This guide provides an introduction to SLAPPs and advice on how to respond if you face a SLAPP threat. We hope…

An Environmental Advocate’s Guide to Avoiding Defamation and Other Publication Lawsuits

May 31, 2005

The First Amendment Project wrote this guide to help protect environmental advocates from defamation lawsuits. However, this resource provides guidance on avoiding defamation that is not only useful for environmental organizations, but a broader range of civil society groups.

Best Practices for Avoiding Publication Liability

November 21, 2018

Tags: Defamation, Prevention

Suppose you are campaigning on an important topic and want to publish a blog, tweet, article, video, or report that exposes the wrongdoing of a company or individual. What steps can you take to avoid publication liability? The First Amendment Project has developed a Factsheet on Avoiding Publication Liability…

Defamation, Libel, Slander…and Other Common SLAPP disguises

August 10, 2018

The California Anti-SLAPP Project created this factsheet to explain the types of legal claims (such as defamation, invasion of privacy, and conspiracy) that are often used to disguise a SLAPP. The definitions on this sheet apply specifically to California law, but provide a general overview that can…

Encyclopedia of Types of SLAPPs

August 28, 2018

Legal bullies never admit that they are filing a “strategic lawsuit against public participation” (SLAPP); SLAPPs come disguised as legitimate legal claims. Here are some of the most common types of legal theories used in SLAPPs. Note: these legal theories all appear in legitimate lawsuits, as well; in each case,…

Guarding Against the Chill: A Survival Guide for SLAPP Victims

May 31, 2018

The First Amendment Project created this handbook to help individuals and organizations identify SLAPPs and protect themselves. This includes preemptive actions to reduce exposure to SLAPPs and actions to take if a SLAPP bully targets you or your organization.

How Litigation Throttles Civic Advocacy

May 22, 2017

Tags: Greenpeace, Resolute, RICO

Bunny Mcdiarmid, Executive Director of Greenpeace International discusses how corporations are using SLAPPs to target advocacy groups. This article explains why corporations would pursue a lawsuit that they expect to lose: “In many ways, hiring goons is a lot easier and…

How SLAPPs Undermine Democracy: A Case Study of the USA

September 14, 2018

Tags: ETP

Charlie Holt, Legal Counsel at Greenpeace International, examines the rise of corporate power in democracies worldwide. With governments increasingly powerless to hold corporations accountable for wrongdoing, Holt writes that corporations are “increasingly responsive to only one thing: the opinion of their customers.”…

How the Wealthy Use Frivolous Lawsuits to Silence Activists, Journalists, and Even Victims of Sexual Violence

September 12, 2018

Tags: #MeToo

In this article for Salon, Amanda Marcotte reports on the launch of the Protect the Protest task force, as well as the wide range of public interest organizations affected by SLAPPs. This includes, for example, media organizations, environmental activists, and sexual…

SLAPPs: Getting Sued for Speaking Out (1996)

January 01, 1996

This book, by the two professors who coined the term “SLAPP,” charts the history of SLAPPs. The book examines the history of how the courts have addressed SLAPPs and looks at trends during the 1970s-1990s. An excerpt of the book is available here. The full book can…

SLAPPs: Strategic Lawsuits against Public Participation (1989)

September 01, 1989

The Pace Environmental Law Review published this article in 1989 by one of the two professors who coined the term “SLAPP.” This article analyzes the legal implications of SLAPPs, while a counterpart article by Penelope Canan examines SLAPPs from a sociological perspective.

The First Annual SLAPP Awards 2018

February 25, 2019

Tags: awards, SLAPPies

Last year was a busy year for corporate bullies in the US. It seems nowadays that a corporation or high-ranking businessman can’t even engage in a light spot of environmental destruction, harassment, or treason without some pesky activist or journalist getting in the way. Corporate bullies have increasingly… Read More

Tongue-in-cheek ‘SLAPP Awards’ celebrate the corporations, lawyers using courts to silence free speech

February 25, 2019

Tags: awards, SLAPPies

The Protect the Protest task force announces first-annual accolades for biggest legal bullies and shadiest lawyers of the year to coincide with the Academy Awards. PRESS RELEASE For immediate release: February, 25, 2019 Washington, DC — Last year was a banner year… Read More

United Nations Human Rights Expert Expresses Concern With Growing SLAPP Trend

December 31, 2017

Ms. Annalisa Ciampi, the United Nations Special Rapporteur on the Rights to Freedom of Peaceful Assembly and of Association, issued this report on the risks that SLAPPs pose to fundamental human rights protected under international law.

Facing a SLAPP Threat? Here are 10 Resources to Help You

November 21, 2018

Tags: Prevention

Our democracy depends on checks and balances – and those who work to expose the wrongdoing of America’s rich and powerful have a critical role to play. But this work is becoming increasingly risky: community activists, civil society campaigners and journalists face the growing threat of retaliation for… Read More

This New Coalition Protects Protesters’ Right to Civil Disobedience

September 19, 2018

Tags: Launch

Ben Paynter reports in Fast Company on the launch of the Protect the Protest task force. Strategic lawsuits against public participation (SLAPPs) often involve a power imbalance, in which a wealthy corporation or individual attempts to force a smaller or less-resourced nonprofit organization,… Read More

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