Ohio has earned the dubious distinction of being one of just 17 states with no law protecting against costly, frivolous lawsuits that are used to intimidate and silence critics.
"There are still too many states in which plaintiffs with deep pockets can threaten critics with financial ruin if they don’t shut up" As a result, these states earned an “F” in the“SLAPP” stands for “strategic litigation against public participation,” referring to the ways in which plaintiffs of means can abuse the legal system to suppress speech they don’t like.
This problem is acutely felt in the field of journalism, an industry that has faced financial hardship in the digital era. Last year, for example, former Scene sister paper the Metro Times in Detroit and other outlets were slapped with a SLAPP lawsuit from a local parent after accurately reporting about a chaotic school board meeting in which the parent had allegedly made a Nazi salute and said “Heil Hitler” to protest COVID-19 mask mandates.
“The progress we’ve seen in recent years is a welcome trend, but there are still too many states in which plaintiffs with deep pockets can threaten critics with financial ruin if they don’t shut up,” said Institute for Free Speech president David Keating, also one of the report’s co-authors. “A strong anti-SLAPP law is one of the best and easiest protections for free speech states can provide.
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