Shut Up, Explained the Businessman: How Consumers Like You Get SLAPPed Down

Reason reports on the coalition letter CEI signed in support of the SPEAK FREE Act. 

Representatives from eight free market, pro-consumer groups just sent today a letter in support of the SPEAK FREE Act to the House Judiciary Committee. The groups involved include the R Street Institute, FreedomWorks, the Center for Individual Freedom, Tech Freedom, the American Consumer Institute Center for Citizen Research, the Niskanen Center, the Insitute for Liberty, and the Competitive Enterprise Institute.

The letter points out "multitudes of Americans fall victim to lawsuits called SLAPPs … that are aimed at unfairly intimidating and silencing them." The letter observes that online reviews are an important facet of the digital economy that helps to give consumers confidence to deal with unfamiliar businesses. "Unfortunately, online reviews increasingly are targeted by SLAPPs, as unscrupulous businessmen seek to censor their critics, rather than working to improve the experiences, products, or services they offer," they note.

Read the full article at Reason.