2025. Mid Report Ossigeno/2 – If ten thousand complaints a year seem small to you…

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In ten years in Italy, the abuse of criminal defamation proceedings for intimidation purposes has increased by 100% – The data – The stories of those accused

OSSIGENO October 28, 2025 – For years in Italy, defamation lawsuits  based on false or specious accusations, used against journalists as a means of intimidation or retaliation, have been numerous. Thousands every year. Over the past ten years, they have proliferated unhindered, year after year. Since none of the many countermeasures examined by Parliament have been introduced, they have doubled. Vexatious lawsuits have established themselves as the easiest and most painless means of intimidation for those who wish to use them, and, at the same time, exert a powerful influence on those who suffer them. The data shows that this growing and seemingly unstoppable tide continues to seriously cripple many blameless journalists, as Ossigeno has shown by recounting the ordeal of many of them.

LAWS AND SLAPPS – These aforementioned lawsuits do not include those legal actions to which the 2024 EU Anti-SLAPP Directive will apply, which will only apply to civil defamation suits—and indeed only to a portion of them. Lawsuits are a criminal matter and there are more of them than one might imagine. Every year in Italy, approximately 10,000 are filed. Civil defamation lawsuits, filed to obtain damages for alleged defamation, number another thousand each year. Almost all of these lawsuits are against journalists and bloggers, i.e.,those who dare to publish news,  reliable and current information of public interest and opinions unwelcome to powerful and combative individuals. Since prosecutors are required to prosecute every real or alleged crime, every lawsuit gives rise to a criminal trial. Therefore, ten thousand lawsuits give rise to ten thousand criminal trials, varying in length and cost.

OUTCOME OF LAWSUITS – How do these ten thousand lawsuits end? Almost all (90%) result in the defendants’ acquittal, with a ruling dismissing the charges. Therefore, only one in ten lawsuits  is not based on exaggerated, false, or unfounded accusations. Yet the plaintiffs continue to file them anyway, even though the probability of a conviction is low. Why? Because the complaint has an intimidating effect on the defendant, forces them to incur legal fees, causes them financial harm, and acts as a gag that forces them to approach the subject matter for which they were sued with great circumspection.

LEGAL FEES – In most cases, journalists sued must pay legal fees even if the judge acquits them. Many of them do not have a publisher who covers these costs. Journalists cannot limit their exposure to this risk by taking out insurance, as many other professions can do for professional misconduct, because under Italian law, defamation is a malicious crime, and expenses for malicious crimes are not insurable. The judge can order the plaintiff to reimburse the costs of the acquitted defendant only if he issues a ruling stating “the fact does not exist,” but usually acquits with the “the fact does not constitute a crime” ruling. This occurs in a minority of cases.

MINISTRY DATA – Ossigeno per l’informazione has extensively documented this trend with numerous stories. Furthermore, Ossigeno has documented the extent of the phenomenon with unpublished official data. Ossigeno did so in 2016, when it managed to obtain statistics on the outcome of these trials from the Ministry of Justice (see the dossier “Shut up or I’ll sue you!”). The update of that data by ISTAT in 2019 leads to the current calculation of ten thousand complaints per year. Despite all this, the Italian parliament continues to postpone (and has been doing so for thirty years) necessary and possible countermeasures.

THE EU DIRECTIVE – Fortunately, the European Commission is taking action, but it cannot do what is exclusively the responsibility of the Italian Parliament: the reform of criminal law, essential to eliminate the intimidating use of complaints. The new development is the Anti-SLAPP Directive approved by the EU in 2024, which affects a portion of civil defamation cases, namely cross-border ones (i.e., those involving more than one country, a small percentage of the total). The Directive provides effective rules to prevent abuse, for example, requiring those who bring such cases to post a deposit to cover legal costs and the compensation sought, a sum they will forfeit if the case is not resolved in their favour. This serves as a deterrent for those who bring unfounded cases. This deterrent would also be necessary for lawsuits  and the Italian Parliament could and should introduce it with the law implementing the Directive, introducing this and other provisions to strengthen safeguards against the abuse of defamation proceedings.

TEN YEARS LATER – In 2026, ten years will have passed since the Ministry of Justice provided the last official data on the outcome of defamation trials. That data stated that every year in Italy, nearly six thousand criminal trials for libel took place, and of these, 5,125 were based on unfounded or frivolous complaints (90% of those resolved by the courts). That data also indicated an annual increase in complaints of 8%. 

In 2019, ISTAT (the Italian statistical institute) reported that lawsuits had reached 9,000 per year. How many are there now? Almost certainly more. Let’s say at least ten thousand, because Ossigeno’s monitoring shows that the situation has not improved in the last six years. It recounts the enormous damage done to  journalists and freedom of information caused by the continued abuse of lawsuits. If the government wants to challenge these figures, it should produce its updated data and publish them regularly, every year, as it does for trials involving other crimes.