Why we can’t let non-Russian oligarchs get away with it
GOOD NEWS
It’s not often that I get to trumpet good news, but this is something actually positive. I wrote last month about Carole Cadwalladr, the British journalist left with staggering damages to pay after losing a defamation case. The threat of bankruptcy in the British courts has cowed reporters far beyond the United Kingdom, with libel specialists attacking outlets that expose the financial misdeeds of the rich and powerful in Angola, South Africa, Malta, Ukraine and many other places. British defamation lawyers have been one of the worst threats to press freedom globally for far too long.
The UK government has now announced an amendment to an economic crime bill going through Parliament that will — at least partly — put an end to this.
- “For too long corrupt elites have abused our legal system to evade scrutiny and silence their critics. These new measures are a victory for truth and justice, and a blow to those who try and export their corruption to the U.K.,” said Tom Tugendhat, the U.K. security minister. “They will help expose wrongdoing and bring an end to spurious lawsuits from those who seek to suppress our freedom of speech.”
The legislation will facilitate a more effective public interest debate about the reporting of economic crime and limit the ability of wealthy claimants to use so-called SLAPP cases to crush reporters with the threat of costly lawsuits.
- “Good to see some work being done on Parliament to address SLAPPs, but this is the first step, not the last, and fuller anti-SLAPP legislation should continue to be pushed,” tweeted Eliot Higgins, who has himself been targeted by abusive lawsuits.
- “New anti-SLAPPs measures in the Economic Crime Bill are a great win for journalists looking to shine the spotlight on economic crime — no longer will they be silenced. But to be truly effective, these must be broadened out to all defamation lawsuits,” said Margaret Hodge, a member of Parliament who campaigned against oligarchs long before it was fashionable.
I am keeping my toes and fingers crossed that this legislation fulfills its potential. Now, they just need to limit the use of data protection legislation to restrict investigations and extend the protections to cover reporting on any topic, and we’ll start to get somewhere.