Conclusion

The criminalisation of defamation poses a serious risk to freedom of expression, particularly with the rise of social media platforms online.  Defamation proceedings serve a legitimate purpose of protecting individuals’ reputations but are also often abused to silence and punish dissent.  Despite the recent trend towards the decriminalisation of defamation, there remains a need to decriminalise in more countries, or at least to remove criminal punishments, to address excessive civil defamation awards, to ensure that defamation laws provide appropriate defences to defendants, and to adopt legal protections against SLAPP suits.