Trinidad and Tobago’s controversial Libel and Defamation Act was partly amended in 2014, but “malicious defamatory libel known to be false” is still punishable by up to two years in prison as well as a fine. Most media outlets are privately-owned but those regarded as favorable to the government get the lion’s share of state advertising. Several pieces of legislation – the Cybercrime Bill, the Whistleblower Protection Act, the Data Protection Act, and the Broadcast Code – could have a chilling effect on press freedom and free expression online if adopted. In 2017 several reporters were physically attacked while investigating a story involving the owner of a private oil company, a rare example of violence against journalists unseen in the country in recent years.