Anti‑blackmail Laws Protect Elites

Anti‑blackmail statutes and enforcement often produce an asymmetry: wealthy or powerful actors can use nondisclosure agreements and private settlements to keep misconduct hidden, while poor observers face criminal exposure for the same threat to reveal. The result is legal insulation for elites and reduced public accountability. — If laws intended to curb coercion instead entrench secrecy for powerful people, that reshapes debates about enforcement priorities, transparency, and unequal rule of law.