Journalists and free speech advocates are raising alarms about a bill moving through the Texas Legislature that they worry would make news organizations and regular Texans more susceptible to frivolous lawsuits designed to squash free speech.
At issue is a proposed adjustment to the 2011 Texas Citizens Participation Act, also known as the anti-SLAPP law, which is designed to prevent litigants from weaponizing the legal system to punish people for or dissuade them from exercising their First Amendment rights. The idea is that without such a law, big companies or wealthy individuals could inflict major damage by suing people over speech they don’t like. Those suits are known as SLAPP — strategic lawsuits against public participation — cases. Even if the suits are frivolous, their existence could cost the defendants thousands of dollars or more in court fees and legal bills. Or the threat of those suits could force people to censor themselves.