The looming threat that could bankrupt The Intercept

When The Intercept was sued by Erik Prince, the billionaire founder of private security firm Blackwater, it triggered a yearslong legal battle that cost The Intercept more than $200,000 in legal fees.

But what’s even more troubling is that Prince’s lawsuit wasn’t just a one-time nuisance. It’s part of a pattern of billionaires systematically weaponizing libel law to undermine investigative journalism they don’t like.

The Intercept is committed to investigating and exposing malfeasance and corruption by those in power, no matter what they throw at us.

But to continue producing this kind of hard-hitting reporting, we need to raise $400,000 by September 30 — and reader donations are absolutely critical to meet that goal.

Will you step up with a donation to power The Intercept?

The Intercept wasn’t the first news outlet to be targeted with this kind of lawsuit, and we almost certainly won’t be the last.

In 2016, a lawsuit bankrolled by billionaire tech mogul and Trump megadonor Peter Thiel against the news website Gawker ended in a $140 million judgment that led the media company to file for bankruptcy.

ProPublica was sued in 2018 after publishing a story about a Houston doctor accused of violating federal research rules and skirting ethical guidelines. That lawsuit was dismissed just last month, but it took a major toll in legal costs and increased insurance premiums for the nonprofit news outlet.

In the words of ProPublica journalist Charles Ornstein, the case showed how “even when you win a lawsuit, you can still lose.”

The message of these lawsuits is clear: Investigate the rich and powerful at your peril.

The best way for you to help us fight back against these attempts to silence independent journalism is to make a donation to The Intercept so we can meet our urgent goal of raising $400,000 by September 30.

Will you donate $5 to help power the fearless investigative journalism of The Intercept?

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