FL
Florida House Bill H0667

Florida 2025 Regular Session

Florida House Bill H0667 Compare Versions

OldNewDifferences
11
22
3-CS/HB 667 2025
3+HB 667 2025
44
55
66
77 CODING: Words stricken are deletions; words underlined are additions.
8-hb667-01-c1
9-Page 1 of 4
8+hb667-00
9+Page 1 of 3
1010 F L O R I D A H O U S E O F R E P R E S E N T A T I V E S
1111
1212
1313
1414 A bill to be entitled 1
1515 An act relating to liability for defamatory 2
1616 statements; amending s. 770.02, F.S.; requiring that 3
17-certain articles or broadcasts be removed from 4
18-specified websites within a specified period to limit 5
19-damages for defamation; amending s. 770.04, F.S.; 6
20-providing persons in certain positions relating to 7
21-newspapers with immunity for defamation if such 8
22-persons exercise due care to prevent publication of a 9
23-defamatory statement; requiring removal of defamatory 10
24-statements from specified websites in certain 11
25-circumstances; providing an effective date. 12
17+certain articles or broadcasts be removed from the 4
18+Internet within a specified period to limit damages 5
19+for defamation; amending s. 770.04, F.S.; providing 6
20+persons in certain positions relating to newspapers 7
21+with immunity for defamation if such persons exercise 8
22+due care to prevent publication of a defamatory 9
23+statement; requiring removal of defamatory statements 10
24+from the Internet in certain circumstances; providing 11
25+an effective date. 12
2626 13
2727 Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Florida: 14
2828 15
29- Section 1. Subsections (1) and (2) of section 770.02, 16
30-Florida Statutes, are amended to read: 17
29+ Section 1. Subsection (1) of section 770.02, Florida 16
30+Statutes, is amended to read: 17
3131 770.02 Correction, apology, or retraction by newspaper or 18
3232 broadcast station.— 19
3333 (1) If it appears upon the trial that said article or 20
3434 broadcast was published in good faith; that its falsity was due 21
3535 to an honest mistake of the facts; that t here were reasonable 22
3636 grounds for believing that the statements in said article or 23
3737 broadcast were true; and that, within the period of time 24
3838 specified in subsection (2), a full and fair correction, 25
3939
40-CS/HB 667 2025
40+HB 667 2025
4141
4242
4343
4444 CODING: Words stricken are deletions; words underlined are additions.
45-hb667-01-c1
46-Page 2 of 4
45+hb667-00
46+Page 2 of 3
4747 F L O R I D A H O U S E O F R E P R E S E N T A T I V E S
4848
4949
5050
5151 apology, or retraction was, in the case of a newspaper or 26
5252 periodical, published in the same editions or corresponding 27
5353 issues of the newspaper or periodical in which said article 28
5454 appeared and in as conspicuous place and type as said original 29
5555 article or, in the case of a broadcast, the correction, apology, 30
5656 or retraction was broadcast at a comparable time, then the 31
5757 plaintiff in such case shall recover only actual damages. For 32
5858 purposes of this section, if such an article or broadcast has 33
5959 been published on the Internet, the article or broadcast must be 34
60-permanently removed from any website over which the newspaper, 35
61-broadcaster, or periodical has control within the time period 36
62-provided in paragraph (2)(a) in order to limit recovery to 37
63-actual damages as provided in this section. 38
64- (2) Full and fair c orrection, apology, or retraction shall 39
65-be made: 40
66- (a) In the case of a broadcast or a daily or weekly 41
67-newspaper or periodical, within 10 days after service of 42
68-notice.; 43
69- (b) In the case of a newspaper or periodical published 44
70-semimonthly, within 20 days af ter service of notice .; 45
71- (c) In the case of a newspaper or periodical published 46
72-monthly, within 45 days after service of notice .; and 47
73- (d) In the case of a newspaper or periodical published 48
74-less frequently than monthly, in the next issue, provided notice 49
75-is served no later than 45 days before prior to such 50
60+permanently removed from the Internet within the time period 35
61+provided in paragraph (2)(a) in order to limit recovery to 36
62+actual damages as provided in this section. 37
63+ Section 2. Section 770.04, Florida Statutes, is amended to 38
64+read: 39
65+ 770.04 Civil liability of certain media outlets radio or 40
66+television broadcasting stations ; care to prevent publication or 41
67+utterance required.— 42
68+ (1) The owner, licensee, or operator of a radio or 43
69+television broadcasting station or newspaper, and the agents or 44
70+employees of any such owner, licens ee, or operator, shall not be 45
71+liable for any damages for any defamatory statement published or 46
72+uttered in or as a part of a radio or television broadcast or 47
73+newspaper article, by one other than such owner, licensee , or 48
74+operator, or general agent or employe es thereof, unless it shall 49
75+be alleged and proved by the complaining party , that such owner, 50
7676
77-CS/HB 667 2025
77+HB 667 2025
7878
7979
8080
8181 CODING: Words stricken are deletions; words underlined are additions.
82-hb667-01-c1
83-Page 3 of 4
82+hb667-00
83+Page 3 of 3
8484 F L O R I D A H O U S E O F R E P R E S E N T A T I V E S
8585
8686
8787
88-publication. 51
89- Section 2. Section 770.04, Florida Statutes, is amended to 52
90-read: 53
91- 770.04 Civil liability of certain media outlets radio or 54
92-television broadcasting stations ; care to prevent publication or 55
93-utterance required.— 56
94- (1) The owner, licensee, or operator of a radio or 57
95-television broadcasting station or a newspaper, and the agents 58
96-or employees of any such owner, licensee , or operator, are shall 59
97-not be liable for any damages for any defamatory s tatement 60
98-published or uttered in or as a part of a radio or television 61
99-broadcast or newspaper article , by one other than such owner, 62
100-licensee, or operator, or general agent or employees thereof, 63
101-unless it is shall be alleged and proved by the complaining 64
102-party, that such owner, licensee, operator, general agent , or 65
103-employee, has failed to exercise due care to prevent the 66
104-publication or utterance of such statement in such broadcasts or 67
105-newspaper articles, provided, however, the exercise of due care 68
106-shall be construed to include the bona fide compliance with any 69
107-federal law or the regulation of any federal regulatory agency. 70
108- (2) When an owner, a licensee, or an operator described in 71
109-subsection (1) publishes a defamatory statement on the Internet 72
110-with no knowledge of falsity of the statement and thereafter 73
111-receives notice that such statement has been found in a judicial 74
112-proceeding to be false, or receives notice of facts that would 75
113-
114-CS/HB 667 2025
115-
116-
117-
118-CODING: Words stricken are deletions; words underlined are additions.
119-hb667-01-c1
120-Page 4 of 4
121-F L O R I D A H O U S E O F R E P R E S E N T A T I V E S
122-
123-
124-
125-cause a reasonable person to conclude that such statement was 76
126-false, and the owner, licensee, or operator fails to take 77
127-reasonable steps to permanently remove the statement and any 78
128-related report from any website over which the newspaper, 79
129-broadcaster, or periodical has control, the continued appearance 80
130-of such statement or report on such website after the notice is 81
131-a new publication for purpose of the statute of limitations, and 82
132-the owner, licensee, or operator shall not be entitled to a fair 83
133-reporting privilege for such new publication; provided that no 84
134-action shall be commenced more than 20 years after the date of 85
135-first publication. 86
136- Section 3. This act shall take effect July 1, 2025. 87
88+licensee, operator, general agent , or employee, has failed to 51
89+exercise due care to prevent the publication or utterance of 52
90+such statement in such broadcast or article broadcasts, 53
91+provided, however, the exercise of due care shall be construed 54
92+to include the bona fide compliance with any federal law or the 55
93+regulation of any federal regulatory agency. 56
94+ (2) When an owner, a licensee, or an operator described in 57
95+subsection (1) publishes a defamatory statement on the Internet 58
96+with no knowledge of falsity of the statement and thereafter 59
97+receives notice that such statement has been found in a judicial 60
98+proceeding to be false, or receives notice of facts that would 61
99+cause a reasonable person to conclude that such statement was 62
100+false, and the owner, licensee, or operator fails to take 63
101+reasonable steps to permanently remove the statement and any 64
102+related report from the Internet, the continued appearance of 65
103+such statement or repor t on the Internet after the notice shall 66
104+be a new publication for purpose of the statute of limitations, 67
105+and the owner, licensee, or operator shall not be entitled to a 68
106+fair reporting privilege for such new publication; provided that 69
107+no action shall be com menced more than 20 years after the date 70
108+of first publication. 71
109+ Section 3. This act shall take effect July 1, 2025. 72