American politicians are pushing through free speech laws to protect US citizens from libel rulings in British courts that have been accused of stifling criticism of oligarchs and dictators. The development follows claims that foreigners flock to the UK to begin hugely expensive defamation cases even though they have little to do with this country.
London has long been regarded as a claimant-friendly place for libel actions because defendants are deemed “guilty” until they have proved their innocence, the opposite of the usual burden of proof in criminal cases. Damages are also typically higher in the UK and the costs so expensive that defendants often feel compelled to settle out of court, even though they may be in the right.
From a Sunday Times piece on what the author, Robert Watts, calls "libel tourism", the practice of going to Britain to sue individuals or organizations that may not even be based in Britain. Here is the Kyiv Post article about a lawsuit that it was involved in. So Ukraine may have sex tourism, but now we know that Britain has libel tourism.
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