{ "title": "Incidents: lawsuits against the press, national level", "canonical_url": "https://thewaronnews.com/incidents?tactic=lawsuits_against_press&level=national&view=cards", "filters": { "tactic": "lawsuits_against_press", "level": "national", "view": "cards" }, "sort": "date", "count": 10, "page": 1, "pages": 1, "per_page": 50, "counts_caveat": "The number of entries reflects the depth of this record, not the severity of a country's conduct.", "facets": { "country": [ { "value": "KZ", "label": "Kazakhstan", "rsf": null }, { "value": "MT", "label": "Malta", "rsf": null }, { "value": "PH", "label": "Philippines", "rsf": { "index": "RSF World Press Freedom Index", "year": 2026, "rank": 114, "of": 180, "label": "RSF 2026 rank: 114th of 180", "source_url": "https://rsf.org/en/index" } }, { "value": "RU", "label": "Russia", "rsf": { "index": "RSF World Press Freedom Index", "year": 2026, "rank": 172, "of": 180, "label": "RSF 2026 rank: 172nd of 180", "source_url": "https://rsf.org/en/index" } }, { "value": "TR", "label": "Türkiye", "rsf": { "index": "RSF World Press Freedom Index", "year": 2026, "rank": 163, "of": 180, "label": "RSF 2026 rank: 163rd of 180", "source_url": "https://rsf.org/en/index" } }, { "value": "US", "label": "United States", "rsf": { "index": "RSF World Press Freedom Index", "year": 2026, "rank": 64, "of": 180, "label": "RSF 2026 rank: 64th of 180", "source_url": "https://rsf.org/en/index" } } ], "continent": [ { "value": "asia", "label": "Asia" }, { "value": "europe", "label": "Europe" }, { "value": "north-america", "label": "North America" } ], "tactic": [ { "value": "lawsuits_against_press", "label": "Lawsuits against the press", "count": 10 }, { "value": "funding_and_ownership_pressure", "label": "Funding and ownership pressure", "count": 1 } ], "stage": [ { "value": "pressure", "label": "Pressure", "count": 8 }, { "value": "punish", "label": "Punish", "count": 2 } ], "level": [ { "value": "national", "label": "National", "count": 10 } ], "outcome": [ { "value": "ongoing", "label": "Ongoing", "count": 7 }, { "value": "sustained", "label": "Sustained", "count": 2 }, { "value": "unknown", "label": "Unknown", "count": 1 } ], "leader": [ { "value": "donald-trump", "label": "Donald Trump" }, { "value": "joseph-muscat", "label": "Joseph Muscat" }, { "value": "kassym-jomart-tokayev", "label": "Kassym-Jomart Tokayev" }, { "value": "recep-tayyip-erdogan", "label": "Recep Tayyip Erdoğan" }, { "value": "rodrigo-duterte", "label": "Rodrigo Duterte" }, { "value": "vladimir-putin", "label": "Vladimir Putin" } ], "era": [ { "value": "2020s", "label": "2020s", "count": 8 }, { "value": "2010s", "label": "2010s", "count": 2 } ], "year": [ { "value": "2017", "label": "2017", "count": 1 }, { "value": "2018", "label": "2018", "count": 1 }, { "value": "2020", "label": "2020", "count": 1 }, { "value": "2022", "label": "2022", "count": 1 }, { "value": "2024", "label": "2024", "count": 1 }, { "value": "2025", "label": "2025", "count": 4 }, { "value": "2026", "label": "2026", "count": 1 } ], "has_case": [ { "value": "0", "label": "without a court case", "count": 10 } ] }, "results": [ { "slug": "2026-kazakhstan-copyright-claims-against-press", "title": "Kazakhstan: fabricated copyright complaints used against journalists", "occurred_on": "2026-08-20", "occurred_on_precision": "day", "country": "KZ", "country_name": "Kazakhstan", "continent": "asia", "jurisdiction": "KZ", "level": "national", "tactic_primary": "lawsuits_against_press", "tactics": [ "lawsuits_against_press" ], "leader_slug": "kassym-jomart-tokayev", "leader_name": "Kassym-Jomart Tokayev", "issue_of_the_day": "Not stated in the sources reviewed.", "outcome": "ongoing", "outcome_on": "2026-08-20", "outcome_note": "The pattern was reported as continuing at the time of the source reviewed, with no described resolution.", "stage": "pressure", "ladder_note": "An investigation found paid services filing fabricated copyright complaints to remove Kazakh journalists' accounts, bypassing courts entirely; United States lawsuits against the press in the record proceed openly through the court system.", "rsf": null, "era": "2020s", "granularity": "granular", "status": "in_effect", "case_count": 0, "summary": "An investigation found paid services in Kazakhstan filing fabricated copyright complaints, impersonating global brands, to get social media platforms to remove journalists' accounts and posts, alongside criminal prosecutions of the press.", "url": "https://thewaronnews.com/incidents/2026-kazakhstan-copyright-claims-against-press" }, { "slug": "2025-trump-sues-new-york-times-15-billion", "title": "Trump files, then refiles, $15 billion defamation suit against the New York Times", "occurred_on": "2025-09-15", "occurred_on_precision": "day", "country": "US", "country_name": "United States", "continent": "north-america", "jurisdiction": "US", "level": "national", "tactic_primary": "lawsuits_against_press", "tactics": [ "lawsuits_against_press" ], "leader_slug": "donald-trump", "leader_name": "Donald Trump", "issue_of_the_day": "The suit named Times articles and a book published in the run-up to the 2024 election, including reporting referencing a note Trump was said to have given Jeffrey Epstein, and the paper's endorsement of Kamala Harris.", "outcome": "ongoing", "outcome_on": "2025-10-16", "outcome_note": "A judge dismissed the original complaint for violating pleading rules; Trump refiled a shortened, six-claim complaint in October 2025.", "stage": "pressure", "ladder_note": null, "rsf": { "index": "RSF World Press Freedom Index", "year": 2026, "rank": 64, "of": 180, "label": "RSF 2026 rank: 64th of 180", "source_url": "https://rsf.org/en/index" }, "era": "2020s", "granularity": "granular", "status": "in_effect", "case_count": 0, "summary": "President Trump sued The New York Times and four of its journalists for $15 billion over articles and a book published before the 2024 election; a judge dismissed the sprawling original complaint for violating basic pleading rules, and Trump refiled a shorter version a month later.", "url": "https://thewaronnews.com/incidents/2025-trump-sues-new-york-times-15-billion" }, { "slug": "2025-trump-sues-wall-street-journal-epstein-letter", "title": "Trump sues Wall Street Journal and Rupert Murdoch over Epstein birthday letter story", "occurred_on": "2025-07-18", "occurred_on_precision": "day", "country": "US", "country_name": "United States", "continent": "north-america", "jurisdiction": "US", "level": "national", "tactic_primary": "lawsuits_against_press", "tactics": [ "lawsuits_against_press" ], "leader_slug": "donald-trump", "leader_name": "Donald Trump", "issue_of_the_day": "The Journal had reported on a letter, bearing Trump's name and an outline of a naked woman, compiled into a birthday album for Jeffrey Epstein in 2003; the story renewed scrutiny of Trump's past relationship with Epstein.", "outcome": "ongoing", "outcome_on": null, "outcome_note": "Dow Jones moved to dismiss the suit in September 2025, arguing the reporting was true; the case remained in litigation.", "stage": "pressure", "ladder_note": null, "rsf": { "index": "RSF World Press Freedom Index", "year": 2026, "rank": 64, "of": 180, "label": "RSF 2026 rank: 64th of 180", "source_url": "https://rsf.org/en/index" }, "era": "2020s", "granularity": "granular", "status": "in_effect", "case_count": 0, "summary": "President Trump sued The Wall Street Journal, its owner Rupert Murdoch and two reporters for at least $10 billion, disputing the newspaper's report describing a bawdy letter he was said to have sent Jeffrey Epstein for a 2003 birthday album.", "url": "https://thewaronnews.com/incidents/2025-trump-sues-wall-street-journal-epstein-letter" }, { "slug": "2025-paramount-cbs-settle-60-minutes-suit", "title": "United States: Paramount settlement of Donald Trump's lawsuit over a 60 Minutes interview, July 2025", "occurred_on": "2025-07-01", "occurred_on_precision": "day", "country": "US", "country_name": "United States", "continent": "north-america", "jurisdiction": "US", "level": "national", "tactic_primary": "lawsuits_against_press", "tactics": [ "lawsuits_against_press" ], "leader_slug": "donald-trump", "leader_name": "Donald Trump", "issue_of_the_day": "60 Minutes' editing of a 2024 interview with Kamala Harris, then vice-president of the United States.", "outcome": "sustained", "outcome_on": "2025-07-01", "outcome_note": "Settled on 2025-07-01: US$16 million to Trump's future presidential library and the plaintiffs' fees and costs; 60 Minutes to release transcripts of presidential-candidate interviews. The outcome enum has no value for a settlement; \"sustained\" records that the settlement terms stand.", "stage": "pressure", "ladder_note": null, "rsf": { "index": "RSF World Press Freedom Index", "year": 2026, "rank": 64, "of": 180, "label": "RSF 2026 rank: 64th of 180", "source_url": "https://rsf.org/en/index" }, "era": "2020s", "granularity": "granular", "status": "in_effect", "case_count": 0, "summary": "On July 1, 2025, Paramount, the parent company of the United States broadcaster CBS News, announced that it would settle for US$16 million a lawsuit brought by Donald Trump, the president of the United States, over how the CBS program 60 Minutes edited a 2024 interview with Kamala Harris, then vice-president. The money goes to Trump's future presidential library and the plaintiffs' fees and costs, and 60 Minutes will release transcripts of future interviews with presidential candidates, \"subject to redactions as required for legal or national security concerns.\" Paramount \"has maintained that the lawsuit was completely without merit,\" according to CBS News.", "url": "https://thewaronnews.com/incidents/2025-paramount-cbs-settle-60-minutes-suit" }, { "slug": "2025-60-minutes-producer-owens-resigns-loss-of-independence", "title": "60 Minutes executive producer resigns, citing lost editorial independence", "occurred_on": "2025-04-22", "occurred_on_precision": "day", "country": "US", "country_name": "United States", "continent": "north-america", "jurisdiction": "US", "level": "national", "tactic_primary": "funding_and_ownership_pressure", "tactics": [ "funding_and_ownership_pressure", "lawsuits_against_press" ], "leader_slug": "donald-trump", "leader_name": "Donald Trump", "issue_of_the_day": "Paramount was defending CBS against Trump's lawsuit over 60 Minutes' editing of a Kamala Harris interview while seeking Federal Communications Commission approval to sell the company to Skydance, a deal Trump's approval-holding regulator could delay or block.", "outcome": "sustained", "outcome_on": "2025-04-22", "outcome_note": "Owens's resignation was not reversed; the program continued under Paramount's new oversight amid the pending settlement and merger.", "stage": "pressure", "ladder_note": null, "rsf": { "index": "RSF World Press Freedom Index", "year": 2026, "rank": 64, "of": 180, "label": "RSF 2026 rank: 64th of 180", "source_url": "https://rsf.org/en/index" }, "era": "2020s", "granularity": "granular", "status": "in_effect", "case_count": 0, "summary": "60 Minutes executive producer Bill Owens resigned, saying corporate owner Paramount had begun supervising the program's content in new ways while it faced President Trump's lawsuit over a Harris interview and pursued a sale requiring federal approval; the program publicly said on air that it had lost the independence it once had.", "url": "https://thewaronnews.com/incidents/2025-60-minutes-producer-owens-resigns-loss-of-independence" }, { "slug": "2024-trump-sues-des-moines-register-selzer-poll", "title": "Trump sues Des Moines Register and pollster Ann Selzer over final Iowa poll", "occurred_on": "2024-12-16", "occurred_on_precision": "day", "country": "US", "country_name": "United States", "continent": "north-america", "jurisdiction": "US-IA", "level": "national", "tactic_primary": "lawsuits_against_press", "tactics": [ "lawsuits_against_press" ], "leader_slug": "donald-trump", "leader_name": "Donald Trump", "issue_of_the_day": "Selzer's final Iowa poll, published days before the November 2024 election, showed Harris leading in a state Trump went on to win by more than ten points, prompting Trump to call the poll itself a form of election interference.", "outcome": "ongoing", "outcome_on": "2026-07-10", "outcome_note": "The judge said allowing the suit to proceed could broadly discourage election polling and reporting; a ruling on dismissal was pending.", "stage": "pressure", "ladder_note": null, "rsf": { "index": "RSF World Press Freedom Index", "year": 2026, "rank": 64, "of": 180, "label": "RSF 2026 rank: 64th of 180", "source_url": "https://rsf.org/en/index" }, "era": "2020s", "granularity": "granular", "status": "in_effect", "case_count": 0, "summary": "President-elect Trump sued the Des Moines Register and longtime pollster Ann Selzer under Iowa's consumer fraud law over her final pre-election poll, which showed Kamala Harris ahead in Iowa days before Trump won the state; a judge later questioned whether the case could proceed without discouraging election reporting.", "url": "https://thewaronnews.com/incidents/2024-trump-sues-des-moines-register-selzer-poll" }, { "slug": "2022-turkiye-prosecutes-sedef-kabas", "title": "Turkiye: journalist Sedef Kabas tried for insulting the president", "occurred_on": "2022-01-14", "occurred_on_precision": "day", "country": "TR", "country_name": "Türkiye", "continent": "asia", "jurisdiction": "TR", "level": "national", "tactic_primary": "lawsuits_against_press", "tactics": [ "lawsuits_against_press" ], "leader_slug": "recep-tayyip-erdogan", "leader_name": "Recep Tayyip Erdoğan", "issue_of_the_day": "Not stated in the sources reviewed.", "outcome": "ongoing", "outcome_on": "2023-06-22", "outcome_note": "The Istanbul court declined to dismiss the second charge and the case remained open as of the source reviewed.", "stage": "punish", "ladder_note": "A journalist faced a second prosecution carrying up to four years in prison for tweets questioning the president's diploma, after an earlier conviction on the same charge; United States lawsuits against the press seek damages, not prison time.", "rsf": { "index": "RSF World Press Freedom Index", "year": 2026, "rank": 163, "of": 180, "label": "RSF 2026 rank: 163rd of 180", "source_url": "https://rsf.org/en/index" }, "era": "2020s", "granularity": "granular", "status": "in_effect", "case_count": 0, "summary": "Turkish authorities tried journalist Sedef Kabas repeatedly for insulting President Erdogan over her on-air comments and tweets questioning his college diploma and alleging corruption, an offense carrying up to four years in prison.", "url": "https://thewaronnews.com/incidents/2022-turkiye-prosecutes-sedef-kabas" }, { "slug": "2020-philippines-ressa-cyber-libel-conviction", "title": "Philippines: Maria Ressa convicted of cyber libel", "occurred_on": "2020-06-15", "occurred_on_precision": "day", "country": "PH", "country_name": "Philippines", "continent": "asia", "jurisdiction": "PH", "level": "national", "tactic_primary": "lawsuits_against_press", "tactics": [ "lawsuits_against_press" ], "leader_slug": "rodrigo-duterte", "leader_name": "Rodrigo Duterte", "issue_of_the_day": "Not stated in the sources reviewed.", "outcome": "ongoing", "outcome_on": "2020-06-15", "outcome_note": "Ressa and Santos were convicted and sentenced but remained free pending appeal, according to the source reviewed.", "stage": "punish", "ladder_note": "A court convicted an outlet's executive editor of criminal cyber libel and imposed a prison sentence over a story published before the cybercrime law existed; United States lawsuits against the press in the record are civil, seeking damages, not prison time.", "rsf": { "index": "RSF World Press Freedom Index", "year": 2026, "rank": 114, "of": 180, "label": "RSF 2026 rank: 114th of 180", "source_url": "https://rsf.org/en/index" }, "era": "2020s", "granularity": "granular", "status": "in_effect", "case_count": 0, "summary": "A Manila court convicted Rappler's Maria Ressa and researcher Reynaldo Santos Jr. of criminal cyber libel and sentenced them to up to six years in prison, over a 2012 story republished after the cybercrime law used to charge them took effect.", "url": "https://thewaronnews.com/incidents/2020-philippines-ressa-cyber-libel-conviction" }, { "slug": "2018-russia-fines-the-new-times", "title": "Russia: outlet fined $338,000 under the foreign agents law", "occurred_on": "2018-10-26", "occurred_on_precision": "day", "country": "RU", "country_name": "Russia", "continent": "europe", "jurisdiction": "RU", "level": "national", "tactic_primary": "lawsuits_against_press", "tactics": [ "lawsuits_against_press" ], "leader_slug": "vladimir-putin", "leader_name": "Vladimir Putin", "issue_of_the_day": "Not stated in the sources reviewed.", "outcome": "ongoing", "outcome_on": "2018-10-26", "outcome_note": "The outlet's editor said she would appeal the fine; the source reviewed does not report the appeal's result.", "stage": "pressure", "ladder_note": "A court fined an outlet $338,000 over a foreign agents paperwork lapse, a sum its editor said was designed to force its closure; United States lawsuits against the press have not sought a fine that could end an outlet's operations.", "rsf": { "index": "RSF World Press Freedom Index", "year": 2026, "rank": 172, "of": 180, "label": "RSF 2026 rank: 172nd of 180", "source_url": "https://rsf.org/en/index" }, "era": "2010s", "granularity": "granular", "status": "in_effect", "case_count": 0, "summary": "A Moscow court fined the magazine The New Times 22.3 million rubles, about $338,000, for a paperwork lapse under Russia's foreign agents law, a sum its editor said was designed to force the outlet to close.", "url": "https://thewaronnews.com/incidents/2018-russia-fines-the-new-times" }, { "slug": "2017-malta-freezes-caruana-galizia-account", "title": "Malta: minister orders reporter's bank account frozen", "occurred_on": "2017-02-01", "occurred_on_precision": "month", "country": "MT", "country_name": "Malta", "continent": "europe", "jurisdiction": "MT", "level": "national", "tactic_primary": "lawsuits_against_press", "tactics": [ "lawsuits_against_press" ], "leader_slug": "joseph-muscat", "leader_name": "Joseph Muscat", "issue_of_the_day": "Not stated in the sources reviewed.", "outcome": "unknown", "outcome_on": null, "outcome_note": "The source reviewed does not report the freeze being lifted before her 2017 killing; five people were later sentenced over the killing itself between 2022 and 2026, while defamation suits continued against her family.", "stage": "pressure", "ladder_note": "A minister ordered a reporter's bank account frozen a month after her story on his colleagues, one of dozens of suits filed against her before her killing; United States lawsuits against the press in the record have not frozen a journalist's assets.", "rsf": null, "era": "2010s", "granularity": "granular", "status": "in_effect", "case_count": 0, "summary": "A month after journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia published reporting on members of Malta's government, the economy minister had her bank account frozen, one of dozens of legal actions she faced before she was killed in a car bombing in October 2017.", "url": "https://thewaronnews.com/incidents/2017-malta-freezes-caruana-galizia-account" } ], "downloads": { "csv": "https://thewaronnews.com/incidents?tactic=lawsuits_against_press&level=national&view=cards&format=csv", "json": "https://thewaronnews.com/incidents.json?tactic=lawsuits_against_press&level=national&view=cards", "md": "https://thewaronnews.com/incidents.md?tactic=lawsuits_against_press&level=national&view=cards" }, "license": { "name": "CC BY 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/" } }