IGM calls for action against SLAPP lawsuits

The threat of legal action against local media houses by Henley and Partners has led the Institute of Maltese Journalists (IGM) to ask the Government and Opposition to implement measures protecting against SLAPP lawsuits.

SLAPP is an acronym for “strategic lawsuit against public participation” and is a lawsuit that is intended to censor, intimidate, and silence critics by burdening them with the cost of a legal defense until they abandon their criticism or opposition. Several jurisdictions have declared this type of action illegal as they are intended only to waste journalists’ and activists’ time and resources.

Henley and Partners, the company which manages the Individual Investor Programme Maltese passport scheme had launched a new offensive in the days before Christmas, threatening news outlet The Shift News with financially ruinous lawsuits in America and England unless they took down certain news stories.

Murdered journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia had also received similar threats of legal action from the company. The MaltaToday had been threatened in a similar manner by Pilatus Bank last October.

After seeking legal advice, the newspaper opted to withdraw the articles, not because they were wrong, but because it could not afford the astronomical costs of fighting a lawsuit in the United States.

The Institute of Maltese Journalists said it was “very concerned” about the use of such measures and had expressed this concern during discussions with both Government and opposition. IGM president Norma Saliba said that the latest threat by Henley and Partners against a Maltese media house had led the IGM to demand that steps be taken against the practice.