Strategic Lawsuits Against Public Participation (SLAPPs) and Forum Shopping in the Digital and Social Media Era. A Comparison of U.S. and EU Anti-SLAPPs Procedural Remedies

The aim of this study is to investigate how procedural rules have contributed to reducing the number of SLAPPs in the U.S., where the phenomenon originated, and how such rules could help contain the rise of SLAPPs in the EU. Specifically, I intend to focus on how rules concerning international jurisdictionparticularly those laid down in the Brussels I Recast Regulation, may encourage forum shopping in SLAPP cases based on defamation, and which procedural remedies should be adopted to prevent this practice, with particular attention to the new EU Anti-SLAPP Directive.