CASE Report 2025: SLAPPs still on the rise across Europe
Image: Sasun Bughdaryan @sasun1990 via Unsplash
The Coalition Against SLAPPs in Europe (CASE) has published its fourth annual report. Titled "Democracy in the Dock," the report documents a worrying trend: strategic lawsuits against public participation are on the rise, and existing protection measures are far from sufficient.
The numbers: a worrying trend
Since 2010, CASE has documented a total of 1,303 SLAPPs in Europe. In 2024 alone, 167 new cases were recorded – a slight increase compared to 166 cases of the previous year. The phenomenon has now been confirmed in 43 European countries; Montenegro and Andorra were added in 2024.
These figures, however, represent only the tip of the iceberg. The report emphasises that the majority of intimidation attempts occur during the pre-litigation stage through aggressive cease-and-desist letters and never result in publicly visible legal proceedings. Furthermore, many victims remain silent for fear of further escalation – an effect that litigants deliberately exploit. For example, the Croatian Journalists' Association has reported at least 696 active lawsuits against journalists and media outlets in the country, with total claims exceeding €3.1 million.
Who is suing – and against whom?
The data from the CASE Report confirms a familiar pattern: the most frequent litigants are companies and businesspeople, as well as politicians and public officials. According to 2023 figures, 45.2 percent of cases fell into the first group and 35.5 percent into the second. It is therefore primarily those with financial resources and political influence who weaponise the legal system to intimidate critical voices.
On the opposing side are usually individual journalists, followed by media companies, editors, activists and NGOs. The asymmetry is obvious: individuals with limited resources must defend themselves against financially powerful actors whose primary goal is not a successful legal outcome, but intimidation itself.
Topics being suppressed
A particularly alarming finding concerns the content that SLAPPs are intended to suppress: corruption tops the list at 36.1 percent of cases (2023 data), followed by environmental issues at 16.3 percent. Other frequently affected areas include government action, health policy and investigations into the abuse of power.
The report also highlights a worrying trend: those in power are increasingly diversifying their legal strategies beyond traditional defamation lawsuits. Data protection law, intellectual property and other complex legal areas are being used to circumvent established safeguards for freedom of expression. The report also identifies the use of SLAPPs to enforce an official historical narrative — for example, against academics — as a growing problem.
The EU directive: An important step with serious shortcomings
In April 2024, the EU adopted Directive 2024/1069 against abusive legal proceedings. It obliges member states to introduce safeguards such as accelerated dismissal procedures and cost reimbursement rules by May 2026.
However, the directive has a crucial weakness: it only applies to cross-border civil and commercial matters. The CASE Report shows that only 8.5 percent of all documented cases between 2010 and 2024 meet this requirement. The vast majority of SLAPPs are purely national – and therefore do not fall under the protection of the directive unless member states voluntarily extend its scope.
The European Anti-SLAPP Monitor, launched by ECPMF and CASE in September 2025, is monitoring the implementation process in the member states. The results so far are sobering: as of December 2025, the majority of EU countries are expected to miss the implementation deadline.
Germany in the thick of it
With 20 documented SLAPP cases in 2024, Germany, along with Italy (21 cases), Serbia (13), Hungary (12), and Turkey (10), is among the most affected countries. This figure aligns with the experience of the No SLAPP contact point, which has supported approximately 40 potential SLAPP cases since its establishment in May 2024. These figures reveal the central problem with the German government’s draft legislation for implementing the EU directive: only 11 of the cases monitored by the contact point so far have a cross-border element. Thus, well over three-quarters of those affected would not be protected by the proposed law.
Conclusion: Action is needed at all levels
The CASE Report 2025 makes it clear: SLAPPs are not a fringe phenomenon, but a systematic threat to democracy and the rule of law across Europe. The actors are becoming more sophisticated, their methods more diverse – and existing safeguards remain inadequate.
For Germany, this means that the implementation of the EU directive must go beyond the minimum requirements. A law that only covers cross-border cases and ignores out-of-court settlements misses its mark. The experience gained from the No SLAPP advice centre’s work provides the empirical basis for this demand.
