PN MP Jason Azzopardi today tabled anti-SLAPP proposals in the form of an amendment to the Media and Defamation Bill, currently being discussed in Parliament.
The Consideration of Bills Committee is discussing the bill, and while the amendment was tabled today, it will likely be discussed next sitting. Azzopardi explained that the amendment to the media and defamation bill is identical to the Private Members' Bill presented by the Opposition on the matter.
The PN had, on 16 January, presented the Private Member's Bill aimed at protecting Maltese media organisations from SLAPP lawsuits. Strategic lawsuits against public participation, otherwise known as SLAPP, are lawsuits which are aimed at intimidating and censoring the press and critics by threatening to file lawsuits which would result in excessively costly defences.
Such a tactic occasionally involves threatening to file lawsuits in foreign jurisdictions, forcing the critic to back down. This particular topic is pertinent in Malta since the main media houses on the island had been threatened by such action.
The Anti-SLAPP proposed legislation aims to amend the Code of Organisation and Civil Procedure Act, and is aimed at outlawing the use of SLAPP lawsuits in Malta.
The Media and Defamation Bill was presented last November, after a previous attempt at such a law by government caused outrage. This version, seeks to, among other things, discourage frivolous libel suits and retains the €11,640 maximum damages rather than push the previous proposal for an increase in the fine to a maximum of €20,000. Criminal libel will be finally removed through this bill, in addition among the more notable changes, the definition of what constitutes as libellous has been changed to mean that the written statement must cause serious reputational damage to the individual, with the scope of discouraging frivolous libel claims. It would no longer be possible for an individual to file 10 libel suits on10 separate stories which deal in the same allegedly libellous claim.
Certain other amendments are also being made to the Media and Defamation bill following discussions with the OSCE, Justice Minister Owen Bonnici said, for certain definitions to be made technologically neutral.