The Maltese government has hastily adopted the EU anti-SLAPP directive into local law by, allegedly, copying and pasting most of it, as it usually does with many other directives. I am not complaining and this is a good step forward, thanks to the European Union and those who lobbied for it including the Daphne Foundation.
The problem is that the government used this directive to deviously introduce a wider press-reform bill which is actually regressive with new “privacy provisions” among others.
You can find a brief explainer of the anti-SLAPP provisions in an article here by my lawyer, Joseph Mizzi, who has specifically defended me in multiple libel suits already. The anti-SLAPP provisions offer a layer of safety for the journalist against libel suit abuse, however the problem with these cases remains the same and it is their asymmetry because fundamentally libel laws have always protected those in power.
A fair libel law should require the plaintiff to pay the same amount in damages they are seeking if they lose the case.
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