Strategic Lawsuits Against the Public Participation (SLAPP), lawsuits can often be used to intimidate critics into silence
UK Government announces plans to punish wealthy corporations that abuse British law system in an effort to silence opponents. “threat of endless legal action and associated costs.”
“The ability of a free press to hold the powerful to account is fundamental to our democracy and as a former journalist I am determined we must never allow criticism to be silenced,”Boris Johnson, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, made these remarks in a statement on Thursday.
UK’s leader said that “oligarchs and super rich”This is how I have used it. “new kind of lawfare”A way to have a “chilling effect”On free speech “spurious claims”to prohibit legitimate criticism, and stop publication of critical stories.
“The Government will not tolerate Russian oligarchs and other corrupt elites abusing British courts to muzzle those who shine a light on their wrongdoing,”Dominic Raab, UK Justice Secretary, stated that he added that “We’re taking action to put an end to this bullying and protect our free press.”
The government will take amendments to the Defamation Act 2013 to strengthen the “public interest defense”Protect people publishing private information to the public interest from being sued. Another reform that is being looked at includes limiting the amount of damages a claimant may recover in order to restrict the use of the assets by wealthy persons. “high cost of litigation to stifle free speech.”
Critics claim that Strategic Lawsuits Against Public Participation are a form of litigation initiated by wealthy people with the intent of intimidating or financial pressure on the targets.
Following the revelation by British MPs that Russia oligarchs were launching an initiative to launch an international currency, the UK government has made their announcement. “unprecedented” number of legal challenges against the book ‘Putin’s People’.
Catherine Belton, who wrote the book that claimed to discuss “how the KGB took back Russia and then took on the West,”According to Belton, she had faced numerous claims within one year of the publication. Among the legal challenges, Roman Abramovich, the recently sanctioned owner of Chelsea FC, settled a libel claim against Belton and the book’s publisher over the allegation he bought the club at the behest of Russian President Vladimir Putin. According to the agreement Abramovich refuted the allegations and the book was required to be modified to reflect this denial.
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