anti-SLAPP law

noun

an·​ti-SLAPP law ˌan-tē-ˈslap- 

ˌan-tī-

plural anti-SLAPP laws

: a law intended to prevent SLAPP suits

Ken Paulson, who directs the Free Speech Center at Middle Tennessee State University, said anti-SLAPP laws are like "free-speech insurance." "The key to an anti-SLAPP law is to prevent people with a lot of money and resources from intimidating people from saying anything negative about them," he said.

—Kim Bellware

Examples of anti-SLAPP law in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

California was the first state to pass an anti-SLAPP law, in 1992, to target lawsuits that abuse the judicial system. —Nathan Solis, Los Angeles Times, 10 Apr. 2024

What does the case mean for Arizona's anti-SLAPP law? —Sasha Hupka, The Arizona Republic, 5 Mar. 2024

More than half of U.S. states have some kind of anti-SLAPP laws, according to the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press. —Ian Max Stevenson, Idaho Statesman, 16 Feb. 2024

But in his ruling in January, Judge Epstein ruled that the anti-SLAPP law didn’t quite fit all of the lawsuit’s allegations. —Bill Donahue, Billboard, 8 Mar. 2024

Ben Berwick, counsel at Protect Democracy and one of Richer's attorneys for the lawsuit, said the decision could leave the new anti-SLAPP law open to interpretation as other cases come along to test it. —Sasha Hupka, The Arizona Republic, 5 Mar. 2024

One was filed under Arizona's anti-SLAPP law, originally passed in 2006 and revised last year. —Sasha Hupka, The Arizona Republic, 5 Mar. 2024

Most anti-SLAPP laws allow defendants in lawsuits to quickly move to dismiss them. —Ian Max Stevenson, Idaho Statesman, 16 Feb. 2024

Lizzo’s counter-attack came under the anti-SLAPP law. —Bill Donahue, Billboard, 2 Feb. 2024

Word History

First Known Use

1991, in the meaning defined above