In London, McDonald's Corporation sued two environmental activists, Helen Steel and Dave Morris, for distributing a factsheet criticizing the company's practices, in what became the longest-running trial in English history at 313 days. Because UK libel law placed the burden of proof on defendants, the pair had to prove every statement in the factsheet was true without legal aid or representation for most of the trial. Though found liable on some counts, the European Court of Human Rights later ruled that the UK had denied them a fair trial.

The McLibel case became a symbol of corporate power versus individual expression, inspiring protest poetry and radical verse that engaged with the asymmetry of legal resources between corporations and activists. The case influenced the poetry of the anti-globalization movement and the tradition of British political poetry from the 1990s onward, with poets referencing McLibel as an example of how libel law can be weaponized against dissent, a theme explored in the work of poets like Benjamin Zephaniah in the UK spoken word scene.