Yesterday, Tuesday 3rd March, 103 academics wrote to Sir Keir Starmer MP calling for him to include anti-SLAPP provisions in the forthcoming King’s Speech as it “will help protect academic freedom – including critical research on matters of public interest – as a central pillar of civil society and healthy democracies.”
Academics working in a wide range of fields and institutions, as well as independent researchers, can be targeted by abusive legal threats aimed at curtailing, disrupting or censoring academic research, inquiry and publication. As a result, key issues of social importance would lack the necessary scrutiny and analysis that underpins both rigorous academic research and key democratic standards. According to the letter, “Besides the immediate personal and professional risks to targeted academics, SLAPPs increase the risk of academic self-censorship; the likelihood that academics will avoid researching those in power; the cost of undertaking such research due to the required legal support; and limit academics’ ability to disseminate research findings and effectively reach public and policymaking audiences.”
Signatories include academics from UK institutions including: University of Oxford, University of Essex, University of Cambridge, University of Sheffield, University of Aberdeen, University of Glasgow, Queen’s University Belfast, Cardiff University, Imperial College London, Ulster University, University of Leeds, University of Liverpool, University of Exeter, University College London (UCL), Queen Mary University of London, The London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE), King’s College London, University of Sussex, Glasgow Caledonian University and University of York, as well as number of international universities: Max Planck Institute for the Study of Societies in Germany, University of Bologna in Italy, Victoria University of Wellington in New Zealand, Centre for Sociological Studies, El Colegio de México, University of Chittagong in Bangladesh, University of Canterbury in New Zealand and Pázmány Péter Catholic University in Hungary.
The King’s Speech is expected to take place in May 2026 and will outline the Government’s priorities for the forthcoming legislative session. This letter follows a previous one coordinated by the UK Anti-SLAPP Coalition which was sent to the Prime Minister earlier this year, which was signed by 166 editors, lawyers, academics, journalists, publishers and civil society representatives.
Professor Tracey Brown OBE, Director of Sense about Science, said:
“Researchers should not be intimidated from publishing good data because they cannot afford to defend their work in court. The Libel Reform campaign secured a public interest defence and protections for peer-reviewed science that institutions should be using to challenge spurious lawsuits – bowing to external pressure to avoid financial risk neglects their core purpose of generating and sharing knowledge. If Universities don’t back their academics, who will?”
Dr Katie Higgins, University of Sheffield and Dr Sarah Kunz, University of Essex, said:
“It’s vital that academics can publish well-supported findings about the powerful without the chilling effect of abusive lawsuits or legal threats. As part of our work on academic experiences of SLAPPs, we have heard too many stories about colleagues having to self-censor, change the focus of their research, and face the devastating financial and emotional impact of SLAPPs, often with little institutional support. We need better legal protections of academic freedom to ensure that evidence – not intimidation – shapes public understanding and policy.”
Dr Mark Hanna, University of Canterbury, Director of SLAPPs Research Group, said:
“Recent reforms have recognised SLAPPs as a problem, but they still leave large parts of academic work exposed. Section 6 of the Defamation Act 2013 is framed around peer‑reviewed publications, which does not reflect the reality that academics must be able to communicate responsibly about their research through a variety of forums, including public‑facing media. At the same time, the anti‑SLAPP provisions in the Economic Crime and Corporate Transparency Act are confined to ‘economic crime’, while scholarly work extends across a wider range of public‑interest issues. Broader anti‑SLAPP protections are needed so that academics can meet those responsibilities without facing risk of abusive litigation.”
Professor Emeritus Mike Savage FBA, LSE, said:
“As the appalling revelations in the Epstein papers show all too clearly, the wealthy and powerful seek to hide their actions, in order to escape public scrutiny. It is vital for democratic freedom that independent and critical research is not hampered by legal threats to preserve elite privilege, such as through SLAPPs.”
The co-chairs of the UK Anti-SLAPP Coalition, said:
“Academic research informs our understanding of vital issues of social importance, essential to any modern democracy. That research could be prevented from seeing the light of day, whether from direct threat or fear of the high level of legal risk and costs associated is deeply disturbing. The UK prides itself on its higher education sector but the signatures on this letter demonstrate the scale of concern and the urgency by which the Government must act to stamp out SLAPPs.”
Click here to read the letter or read it below:
Sent Electronically
Rt. Hon. Sir Keir Starmer KCB KC MP, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom
3rd March 2026
Dear Prime Minister,
We call on you to include universal Anti-SLAPP provisions in the 2026 King’s Speech
We, the undersigned, academics working in a range of academic disciplines, support the UK Anti-SLAPP Coalition in calling for the inclusion of universal anti-SLAPP provisions in the next King’s Speech anticipated in May 2026. These provisions will help protect academic freedom – including critical research on matters of public interest – as a central pillar of civil society and healthy democracies.
Strategic Lawsuits Against Public Participation (SLAPPs) are abusive, often unmeritorious lawsuits or legal threats designed to silence critics by intimidating them with the cost and stress of legal defence. While SLAPPs are most frequently deployed against journalists, academics have also found themselves at the receiving end of legal threats by companies and wealthy individuals in response to critical research. As such, SLAPPs pose a threat to academic freedom alongside direct state censorship, physical attacks, imprisonment and (online) harassment. Besides the immediate personal and professional risks to targeted academics, SLAPPs increase the risk of academic self-censorship; the likelihood that academics will avoid researching those in power; the cost of undertaking such research due to the required legal support; and limit academics’ ability to disseminate research findings and effectively reach public and policymaking audiences. As one academic put it at an expert roundtable on the threat of SLAPPs to academic freedom hosted by the UK Department of Justice in April 2024: “I am sorry to say, I have personally withheld significant data on an individual that has had a corrosive impact on British democracy, because they are wealthy, highly litigious and at the time I was facing significant legal threats from a number of Russian and Malaysian actors, which limited my fighting capacity”.
Currently, academics’ ability to conduct critical research into powerful actors largely depends on the support of their employing institution. However, many universities do not provide insurance, legal reviews or, indeed, any support to mitigate these legal risks to their staff. Thus, many academics are expected to take on the costs or burden themselves. In a similar fashion, academic publishers often shift the risk to authors or journal editors, or refuse to publish research which might pose a risk of legal action (see Persaud 2014 and Wright et al. 2022 for further discussion). Especially in a context where academics are encouraged to participate in public engagement and impactful research, without concerted action, those who conduct vital research into the actions of the powerful will become increasingly vulnerable to costly, stressful and unpredictable legal action. This will become even more of a problem given growing inequality and oligarchic power worldwide.
Recent research has shown that SLAPPs are a global problem. Markin (2021:1) found recent defamation claims against scientists in the US pose a “threat to scientific inquiry” and “represent efforts to quell scientists’ speech, generally because their research threatens established commercial interests”. She concludes that “reputational attacks are intimidating scientists, causing them to pursue fewer controversial lines of research” (ibid; see also NYU 2025). In Canada, too, Jacobsen et al. (2025:1) report that while academics enjoy some protections in the courts, “the prospect of civil litigation, with its attendant burdens of time and expense, nevertheless has a chilling effect on academic freedom”. Legal threats bearing the hallmarks of a SLAPP have also been used against academics in Denmark, Belgium, France, and Poland (see also here and here).
While SLAPPs are a global problem, England in particular has been identified as a premier location for ‘libel tourism’ due to its permissive legal provisions on defamation. Accordingly, a 2024 Parliamentary briefing writes that “claimants may choose to litigate in England even when the link with the jurisdiction is tenuous, because the law is seen to be ‘claimant friendly’ compared with other jurisdictions”. Indeed, several cases in the UK bearing the hallmarks of SLAPPs, have targeted academics. For example, libel lawyers acting on behalf of Mohamed Amersi and Dmitry Leus successfully garnered changes to a Chatham House report authored by a group of academics, including Professor John Heathershaw, Dr Tena Prelec and Tom Mayne, regarding kleptocracies and suspicious sources of wealth (Heathershaw, Prelec and Mayne 2025, 214-221). In 2020, in Scotland, the former academic and then Green MSP Andy Wightman successfully defended himself against a £750,000 defamation action brought by Wildcat Haven Enterprises over historic blog posts about a conservation project, which he had written while in a previous academic role. In 2014, Professor Karen Dawisha, a Russia scholar was dropped by her long-time publisher Cambridge University Press over concerns that her book, ‘Putin’s Kleptocracy: Who Owns Russia?’, would attract libel cases in London.
The threat that SLAPPs pose to academic freedom is far from new. Already in 2007, Karran (2007:309) argued that the UK was “the sick man of Europe” in terms of legal protections of academic freedom, with “no constitutional protection for either freedom of speech or academic freedom”. From 2009, Sense about Science successfully led a ‘Keep Libel Laws out of Science’ campaign, which led to the first protection of peer-reviewed academic research in the 2013 Defamation Bill. More recently, the UK Economic Crime and Corporate Transparency Act (ECCTA, 2023) acknowledged SLAPPs as an issue in law, and introduced, albeit flawed, measures to provide greater legal protection of reporting on economic crime.
However, such existing legal protections are insufficient to fully protect academic freedom. For instance, they remain legally untested; academic monographs and other outputs in non-peer-reviewed journals remain unprotected; not all research focuses on economic crime; and the complex work to identify the intentions or motivations of someone threatening legal action will mean academics seeking to defend themselves will still need significant funds to see the case through. Given that many SLAPPs are not meant to make it to court but to wear down the targeted critic, pre-court protective measures are especially needed. Without an effective early dismissal mechanism, an objective test for filtering SLAPPs out of court, and the ability to minimise costs and penalise bad conduct, courts and judges do not have the tools or guidance they need. Clearly the problem is not new and effective solutions are still needed.
The UK is not alone in facing a SLAPPs problem but it is now at risk of falling even further behind international allies in responding with protective legislation. Three Canadian provinces and 39 US states now have anti-SLAPP laws. The 27 European Union member states are currently transposing the EU Anti-SLAPP Directive. Especially given the UK is already a prime location for bringing legal actions, stronger protections elsewhere will only further encourage SLAPP perpetrators to exploit our jurisdiction to silence critical academic work. This call compliments the UK Government’s mission to protect national security. Peace and security require constant vigilance, including critical research on powerful or hostile actors who pose a threat to UK democracy.
SLAPPs are thus a society-wide issue that also affects academics and this issue requires a society-wide remedy. Now is the time for further and more concerted action. Legislative action on SLAPPs already had cross-party support. By bringing forward universal anti-SLAPP measures in the next King’s Speech, Parliament will finally be given the opportunity to establish robust and accessible protections against abusive legal threats and actions.
Yours sincerely,
Professor Justin Borg-Barthet, Head of School, School of Law, University of Aberdeen, UK
Dr Peter Coe, Associate Professor in Law, Birmingham Law School, University of Birmingham, UK
Dr Francesca Farrington, Lecturer, School of Law, University of Liverpool, UK
Dr Erin Ferguson, School of Law, University of Aberdeen, UK
Dr Mark Hanna, Senior Lecturer in Private Law, Faculty of Law, University of Canterbury Te Whare Wānanga O Waitaha, New Zealand
Professor John Heathershaw, Professor of International Relations, University of Exeter, UK
Dr Katie Higgins, Lecturer, School of Sociological Studies, Politics and International Relations, University of Sheffield, UK
Dr Sarah Kunz, Lecturer, Department of Sociology and Criminology, University of Essex, UK
Professor Kristian Lasslett, Professor of Criminology, Ulster University, UK
Tom Mayne, Research Fellow, DPIR, University of Oxford, UK
Professor Richard Moorhead, Professor of Law and Ethics, University of Exeter, Professor of Law, Monash University and Honorary Professor, UCL Faculty of Laws, London, UK
Dr Rebecca Moosavian, Associate Professor in Law, School of Law, University of Leeds, UK
Dr Tena Prelec, Lecturer, University of Rijeka, Croatia and Honorary Research Fellow, University of Exeter, UK
Dr Tara Mahfoud, Lecturer in Sociology, University of Essex, UK
Dr Angela Sherwood, Lecturer in law, Queen Mary University of London, UK
Professor Penny Green, Professor of Law and Globalisation , Queen Mary University of London, UK
Neve Gordon, Professor of human rights and international humanitarian law, School of Law, Queen Mary University of London, UK
Professor Geraint Ellis, Chair of Environmental Planning, Queen’s University, Belfast
Dr David M Scott, British Academy Postdoctoral Fellow, Queen Mary University of London, United Kingdom
Dr Carlos Gigoux, Lecturer, Department of Sociology and Criminology, University of Essex, UK
Dr Nabeela Ahmed, Lecturer, University of Sheffield, UK
Neli Demireva, Professor of Sociology, University of Essex, UK
Professor Martin Scott, Professor of Media and Global Development, University of East Anglia, UK
Professor Renee Luthra, Professor, University of Essex, UK
Professor Mel Bunce, Professor of International Journalism and Director Centre for Journalism and Democracy, City St George’s, University of London, UK
Professor Robert Barrington, Professor of Anti-Corruption Practice, Centre for the Study of Corruption, University of Sussex, UK
Professor Mike Savage, Professorial Research Fellow, London School of Economics, UK
Prof Liz David-Barrett, Professor of Governance & Integrity, Centre for the Study of Corruption, University of Sussex, UK
Dr David Schley CMath Char.PR CSci, Deputy Director, Sense about Science, UK
Tracey Brown OBE, Director, Sense about Science, UK
Dr Paul Robert Gilbert, Reader in Development, Justice & Inequality, University of Sussex, UK
Peter Strachan, Doctoral Research Student, Glasgow Caledonian University, UK
Dr Caroline Barrett, Lecturer, University of York, UK
Dr Emma Taylor, Lecturer in Education, King’s Academy, King’s College London, UK
Dr. Bryan Boyle, Postdoctoral Researcher, Max Planck Institute for the Study of Societies, Germany
Dr Bob Jeffery, Senior Lecturer in Sociology, Sheffield Hallam University, UK
Professor Rowland Atkinson, Professor, University of Sheffield, UK
Professor Penny Green, Professor of Law and Globalisation, Queen Mary University of London, UK
Dr Anna Bull, Senior Lecturer, University of York, UK
Professor Tony Ward, Professor in Law, Northumbria University, UK
Dr Darren Thiel, Lecturer, University of Essex, UK
Professor Sam Friedman, Professor, LSE, UK
Professor Heather Marquette, Professor in Development Politics, University of Birmingham, UK
Dr Roxana Pessoa Cavalcanti, Senior lecturer, University of Bristol, UK
Emeritus Professor Paul M Heywood, Professor Emeritus of Politics, University of Nottingham, Visiting Professor, Centre for the Study of Corruption, University of Sussex, UK
Professor John Gaventa, Professor, Institute of Development Studies, UK
Professor Gary Fooks, Professor of Criminology, University of Bristol, UK
Dr Natasha Mulvihill, Associate Professor in Criminology, University of Bristol, UK
Sobia Kaker, Lecturer, University of Essex, UK
Dr Sam Power, Lecturer in Politics, University of Bristol, UK
Adrija Dey, Reader, University of Westminster, UK
Professor Aaron Reeves, Professor of Sociology, LSE, UK
Dr Vladimir Bortun, Lecturer in Politics, St. John’s College, University of Oxford, UK
Professor Anna Sergi, Full professor of sociology of law and deviance | Honorary Professor, University of Bologna, Italy | University of Essex, UK
Aeron Davis, Professor, Victoria University of Wellington, New Zealand / Goldsmiths, University of London, UK
Dr. Jonathan Preminger, Senior Lecturer, Cardiff University, UK
Sam Cooper, Associate Professor, Imperial College London, UK
Ursula Smartt, Associate Professor of Law, Northeastern University London, UK
Caroline Knowles, Honorary Professor, Queen Mary University of London, UK
Dr Jon Dean, Associate Professor, Sheffield Hallam University, UK
Dr Tom Mills, Senior Lecturer, Department of Society and Politics, Aston University, UK
Dr Omar Shahabudin McDoom, Associate Professor, London School of Economics and Political Science, UK
Dr Matt Reynolds, Research Officer, London School of Economics and Political Science, UK
Nikhil Kalyanpur, Assistant Professor, London School of Economics, UK
Professor Alice Sullivan, Professor of Sociology, University College London (UCL), UK
Michael Stewart, Professor of Anthropology, UCL, UK
Professor Abhishek Saha, Professor of Mathematics, Queen Mary University of London, UK
Professor Ralph Wilde, Professor of International Law, Faculty of Laws, University College London, University of London, UK
Alice Krozer, Professor, Centre for Sociological Studies, El Colegio de México, Mexico
Dr Rafaella Lima, Postdoctoral research fellow, University of Sheffield, UK
Prof Umberto Albarella, Professor of Zooarchaeology, University of Sheffield, UK
Frank Maracchione, ESRC Postdoctoral fellow, SOAS University of London, UK
Dr Edward Skidelsky, Senior Lecturer in Philosophy and Director of the Committee for Academic Freedom, University of Exeter, UK
Dr Megan Blomfield, Senior Lecturer, University of Sheffield, UK
Mohammad Sahid Ullah, Professor, University of Chittagong, Bangladesh
Professor Ursula Cheer, Professor, Faculty of Law University of Canterbury, New Zealand
Professor Dennis Hayes, Emeritus Professor of Education, University of Derby, UK
Dr Stuart Waiton, Senior lecturer, Abertay University
Professor David Paton, Chair of Industrial Economics, Nottingham University Business School, UK
Magdalena Zabrocka, Teaching Associate in Law / PhD Candidate, University of Nottingham / University of Aberdeen (PhD), UK
Dr András Koltay, Professor of Law, Pázmány Péter Catholic University, Budapest, Hungary
Professor Sir David Spiegelhalter, Emeritus Professor of Statistics, University of Cambridge, UK
Dr Bobby Lindsay, Senior Lecturer in Private Law, University of Glasgow, UK
Dr Daniel R Smith, Senior Lecturer in Sociology , Cardiff University, Wales, UK
Professor Laura Murphy, Professor of Human Rights, Sheffield Hallam University, UK
Dr Lioba Hirsch, Lecturer in Social Anthropology, University of Edinburgh, UK
Dr Srilata Sircar, Senior Lecturer in Critical Geography, King’s College London, UK
Dr Zsófia Boda, Senior Lecturer, Department of Sociology and Criminology, University of Essex, UK
Dr Sonia Bussu, Associate Professor, University of Birmingham, UK
Dr Silvia Bartolini , Associate Professor in EU law, UCLille, France
Ricki-Lee Gerbrandt, Fellow in Law, University College London, UK
Professor Robin Lovell-Badge, CBE, FRS, FMedSci, Principal Group Leader, The Francis Crick Institute, UK
Dr Stephen Jeffares, Associate Professor in Public Policy, University of Birmingham, UK
Dr Regan Koch, Senior Lecturer, Department of Geography, Queen Mary University of London, UK
Dr Eoin O’Dell, Associate Professor, School of Law , Trinity College Dublin, the University of Dublin , Republic of Ireland
Dr Laura Clancy, Lecturer, Lancaster University, UK
Dr Samuel Burgum, Research Associate, Urban Institute, University of Sheffield, UK
Dr Victoria Habermehl, Lecturer in Urban Studies and International Development, Geography and Planning, University of Sheffield, UK
Professor Linsey McGoey, Professor, Department of Sociology and Criminology, University of Essex, UK
Professor Peggy Froerer, Professor of Anthropology, Brunel, University of London, UK
Professor Sheena Vachhani, Professor of Work and Organisation, University of Bristol, UK
Dr Aidan Mosselson, Lecturer, University of Edinburgh, UK
Professor Bridget Anderson, Professor of Migration, Mobilities and Citizenship, University of Bristol, UK