Logo of the Coalition Against SLAPPs in Europe

European SLAPP Contest calls out worst legal bullies

Screenshot of the European SLAPP Contest 2021 logo

If there are two things that Europe does well, it’s cheesy pop music… and SLAPPs. 

Across Europe, the rich and powerful are increasingly turning to abusive lawsuits – also known as SLAPPs (Strategic Lawsuit Against Public Participation) – as a means of silencing critical speech.

To mark SLAPPs’ meteoric rise in popularity, the Coalition Against SLAPPs in Europe (CASE)  launched the European SLAPP Contest, aiming to give some much deserved recognition to some of the continent’s worst legal bullies.

With all of the glitz and glamour of Eurovision – but with legal bullies instead of dance numbers – the inaugural European SLAPP Contest unveiled its list of winners  on Friday 21 May, the day before the Eurovision Song Contest, in a parody awards ceremony on the CASE website.

CASE is a diverse coalition of advocacy groups – including the European Centre for Press and Media Freedom (ECPMF), Reporters Without Borders, the European Federation of Journalists, Greenpeace EU and Transparency International – that aims to draw attention to the growing use of SLAPPs by powerful private interests to attack our democracies, ahead of the announcement of the European Commission’s anti-SLAPP measures this autumn.

Winners were selected from Poland and Croatia and the full list of nominees for each award is available here in the press pack. The awards were accepted on behalf of the winners by the targets of the SLAPPs profiled.  

SLAPP Awards press pack
Logo of the Coalition Against SLAPPs in Europe

Read news by categories:

Related news

Statement

Kosovo: Reversing the decline in media freedom

A Council of Europe Platform mission finds media freedom in Kosovo has declined, citing political pressure, attacks on journalists and concerns over media independence.

READ MORE
Statement

Serbia: A dangerous spiral of violence against journalists

Record levels of physical violence against journalists, death threats and online smear campaigns, entrenched impunity, and tight political control over the media landscape – media freedom in Serbia is in a deepening crisis with a rapidly closing window for independent journalism to operate.

READ MORE
Statement

Italy: MFRR report highlights continuing media freedom backsliding

On 9-10 March 2026, the Media Freedom Rapid Response (MFRR) consortium conducted its third visit to Rome in five years. The MFRR mission found that Italy has continued on a negative trajectory, resulting in a further erosion of media freedom.

READ MORE
Statement

Türkiye: Media freedom groups demand release of journalists detained ahead of NATO Summit

ECPMF is joined by 26 other organisations representing media freedom, freedom of expression, journalists’ and human rights organisations in expressing profound alarm at the recent wave of detentions and arrests of journalists and civil society representatives in Türkiye in the immediate lead-up to the NATO Summit in Ankara on 7-8 July.

READ MORE
Statement

Das Reformpaket der Bundesregierung höhlt das Informationsfreiheitsgesetz aus und greift die Pressefreiheit an

Das ECPMF kritisiert die geplante Reform des Informationsfreiheitsgesetzes (IFG). Die Änderungen gefährden Pressefreiheit, Transparenz und den Zugang zu staatlichen Informationen.

READ MORE
Statement

Joint Letter: Drop the criminal complaint against CIN-CG journalists in Montenegro

The undersigned press freedom, freedom of expression, journalists’ and human rights organisations strongly condemn the criminal complaint filed against investigative journalists Andrea Perišić and Đurđa Radulović of the Centre for Investigative Journalism of Montenegro (CIN-CG) in Podgorica, Montenegro, in connection with their legitimate journalistic work in the public interest.

READ MORE