SLAPPs in Italy: new name but ancient illness. Ossigeno Annual Report / Part 3

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Almost 290 episodes detected in Italy in the last 3 years. They aren’t targeted by the recent EU Directive, too restrictive and not implemented yet

After showing the figures of his detections of the violations (see here Part 1 ) and the recent trends of threats and intimidations directed in 2024 in Italy against media workers with acts of violence, specious legal actions, discrimination, abuses each of which is a violation of freedom of the press and expression (see here Part 2), this 3rd part focuses on the effects of recent EU legislation. The voluntary association Ossigeno per l’Informazione has continuously monitored these episodes since 2006, and, after having ascertained their validity, openly publishing them on the institutional website www.ossigeno.info. At that web address previous periodic reports can be consulted. 

Edited by Grazia Pia Attolini and Alberto Spampinato

OSSIGENO March 20^th  2025 – Everyone knows what a slapp is and dictionaries give a precise definition: it is the act of deliberate violence with which a person with his hand hits another person with the intention of punishing him for something he considers wrong and harmful to him. For some years it has also meant something else.

In the Anglo-Saxon world the acronym SLAPPS (the English translation of SCHIAFFI)  indicates a compound social phenomenon that Ossigeno documents: that of specious complaints, i.e., legal actions promoted contemptuously, abusing the judicial system, to target and put in difficulty journalists, bloggers, activists and other individuals who legitimately disseminate information and opinions that are unwelcome to those who launch these legal actions. Characterising lawsuits as “vexatious”, as you can see, is not enough, it does not explain sufficiently what the practice  is fully about, you have to add additional descriptive sentences and various clarifications, though they are never exhaustive enough. 

It was a brilliant stroke to call this phenomenon ‘SLAPPS’ and transform the word into such a significant acronym that says it all: Strategic Lawsuits Against Public Participation. This definition makes it clear what we are talking about: cases in which someone distorts to their advantage the ability to promote a legal action to obtain a limitation of the rights of another, something that no one should ever demand, especially not in the name of justice and through the judicial system. 

The acronym SLAPPS does not explicitly refer to journalists. Even so, it makes it clear that these punitive legal actions can be used by someone not only against journalists, but against anyone who, by expressing their thoughts or disseminating information of public interest, allegedly damages the image or the personal interests of the accuser.

For these reasons Ossigeno will currently use in Italian the term Schiaffi legali to indicate the phenomenon of specious lawsuits and manifestly unfounded or abusive court proceedings, even if in the Anglo-Saxon terminology SLAPPS only indicates specious civil lawsuits.

Giving an appropriate and meaningful name to persistent social phenomena is necessary to bring them to public attention and promote knowledge of them. An appropriate name helps discussion of them. It avoids discursiveness. It avoids misunderstandings. It focuses the attention of the interlocutors. It reveals that part of the problem that involves them. ‘Schiaffi’ makes it clear that this phenomenon is moderately violent, therefore unjust, and that these actions can be directed against each one of us, as persons who are part of the social community, who can be hit with legal actions strategically targeted to put us in difficulty, to punish us for a non-existent fault: having legitimately exercised the right to speak and to publicise what we think on issues of public interest.

SLAPPS IN ITALY

In Italy SLAPPs is the new name for an ancient disease that affects media workers. In the last three years, from 2022 to 2024, the Observatory Ossigeno per l’Informazione has detected and verified in Italy 132 cases of intimidation against 290 journalists, bloggers, human rights defenders, opinion makers, that can be considered SLAPPs, i.e. manifestly unfounded or abusive court proceedings to prevent or discourage public participation, according to the definition used in the EU ANTI SLAPP Directive 2024/1069 designed to combat them. 

Over 40% of these legal actions were promoted by public entities or institutions. In the three-year period, Ossigeno has received news of numerous other cases similar to those indicated in this dossier but, unable to verify and ascertain them with the same degree of accuracy, it has not included them in these figures. It is clear, however, that these figures are an underestimate of the phenomenon in Italy..

In 2022, there were 52 SLAPPs against 125 journalists, bloggers, commentators and activists. They represent 41 per cent of all the incidents detected and verified by the Observatory, which include intimidation carried out with acts of violence, other criminal behaviour, serious discrimination and non-prosecutable abuses.

In 2023, the Observatory noted a similar trend to the previous year, with 46 SLAPPs against 108 journalists, bloggers, human rights defenders and commentators. SLAPPs constituted 35 per cent of all the incidents detected.

In 2024, there were 34 legal actions initiated to silence those who provide free information and they affected 57 media workers, 22 per cent of the total victims recorded in the year.

The most frequent SLAPPs in the three years were vexation litigation and frivolous civil suits filed to obtain compensation for damages. 2024 includes a case involving 10 media workers who had their documents and work equipment confiscated.

These data show that SLAPPs occur frequently and significantly in Italy. The cases show that these clear violations of the right to information are not opposed as they should be and are not perceived as unfair activities whereby the justice system is abused in order to limit participation in public life and the free exercise of fundamental rights established by the rule of law, such as freedom of expression and the right to information.

The actual size of the phenomenon of intimidation of journalists including by SLAPPs, is certainly much larger than the figures cited here indicate. Ossigeno has taken a glimpse at many other possible SLAPPs but has only been able to rigorously document this extent of the phenomenon since the Observatory has limited means and resources.

To indicate the cases of intimidation attributable to SLAPPs, Ossigeno has re-examined all the cases of intimidation that it has recorded in the last three years: 197 recorded against 254 media operators in 2024; 185 cases against 500 people in 2023; and 241 cases against 721 victims in 2022.

In this report Ossigeno has only included cases that it has been able to ascertain, document and classify with certainty and that fall within the following categories of legal intimidation defined by the Ossigeno Monitoring Method:

The picture of the main promoters of SLAPPs shows the predominance  of public institutions, a category that includes mayors, administrators of local bodies and agencies:

Below are all the cases made public by Ossigeno:

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Read also:

Ossigeno Report 2023

Ossigeno Report 2022

 – – – REPORT MADE BY THE OSSIGENO MONITORING CENTER —

Director: Alberto Spampinato

Detection of intimidation, verification and publication of data: Laura Turriziani

Data processing by Grazia Pia Attolini

Translation by William Thuburn

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