In his post of 25 May 2022 Iain Wilson asked whether Strategic Lawsuits Against Public Participation (SLAPPs) are “a real problem or a defendant’s wildcard”. As co-chairs of the UK Working Group on SLAPPs we are regularly confronted with the all-too real effects of SLAPPs on public watchdogs – those, such as journalists and activists, whose role it is to hold the powerful to account. The problem with responding to Iain Wilson’s claims of exaggeration, however, is that we ultimately have to address a counterfactual: what information would have been published had it not been subject to a SLAPP? Continue reading