Florida Senate - 2025 CS for SB 752 By the Committee on Judiciary; and Senator Simon 590-02317-25 2025752c1 1 A bill to be entitled 2 An act relating to defamation, false light, and 3 unauthorized publication of name or likenesses; 4 amending s. 770.02, F.S.; requiring that certain 5 articles or broadcasts be removed from any website 6 over which the newspaper, broadcaster, or periodical 7 has control within a specified period to limit damages 8 for defamation; amending s. 770.04, F.S.; providing 9 persons in certain positions relating to newspapers 10 with immunity for defamation if such persons exercise 11 due care to prevent publication or utterance of such a 12 statement; declaring that the continued appearance on 13 any website over which the newspaper, broadcaster, or 14 periodical has control of a published statement 15 determined to be false is deemed to be a new 16 publication of the false statement for certain 17 purposes and that the owner, licensee, or operator is 18 not entitled to a certain privilege; providing an 19 effective date. 20 21 Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Florida: 22 23 Section 1.Section 770.02, Florida Statutes, is amended to 24 read: 25 770.02Correction, apology, or retraction by newspaper or 26 broadcast station. 27 (1)If it appears upon the trial that an said article or a 28 broadcast was published in good faith; that its falsity was due 29 to an honest mistake of the facts; that there were reasonable 30 grounds for believing that the statements in the said article or 31 broadcast were true; and that, within the period of time 32 specified in subsection (2), a full and fair correction, 33 apology, or retraction was, in the case of a newspaper or 34 periodical, published in the same editions or corresponding 35 issues of the newspaper or periodical in which the said article 36 appeared and in as conspicuous place and type as the said 37 original article or, in the case of a broadcast, the correction, 38 apology, or retraction was broadcast at a comparable time, then 39 the plaintiff in such case shall recover only actual damages. 40 For purposes of this section, if such an article or a broadcast 41 has been published on the Internet, the article or broadcast 42 must be permanently removed from any website over which the 43 newspaper, broadcaster, or periodical has control within the 44 time period provided in paragraph (2)(a) in order to limit 45 recovery to actual damages as provided in this section. 46 (2)Full and fair correction, apology, or retraction shall 47 be made: 48 (a)In the case of a broadcast or a daily or weekly 49 newspaper or periodical, within 10 days after service of 50 notice.; 51 (b)In the case of a newspaper or periodical published 52 semimonthly, within 20 days after service of notice.; 53 (c)In the case of a newspaper or periodical published 54 monthly, within 45 days after service of notice.; and 55 (d)In the case of a newspaper or periodical published less 56 frequently than monthly, in the next issue, provided notice is 57 served no later than 45 days before prior to such publication. 58 Section 2.Section 770.04, Florida Statutes, is amended to 59 read: 60 770.04Civil liability of certain media outlets radio or 61 television broadcasting stations; care to prevent publication or 62 utterance required. 63 (1)The owner, licensee, or operator of a radio or 64 television broadcasting station or a newspaper, and the agents 65 or employees of any such owner, licensee, or operator, are shall 66 not be liable for any damages for any defamatory statement 67 published or uttered in or as a part of a radio or television 68 broadcast or newspaper article, by one other than such owner, 69 licensee, or operator, or general agent or employees thereof, 70 unless it is shall be alleged and proved by the complaining 71 party, that such owner, licensee, operator, general agent, or 72 employee, has failed to exercise due care to prevent the 73 publication or utterance of such statement in such broadcasts or 74 newspaper articles, provided, however, the exercise of due care 75 shall be construed to include the bona fide compliance with any 76 federal law or the regulation of any federal regulatory agency. 77 (2)If an owner, a licensee, or an operator described in 78 subsection (1) publishes a defamatory statement on the Internet 79 with no knowledge of falsity of the statement and thereafter 80 receives notice that such statement has been found in a judicial 81 proceeding to be false, or receives notice of facts that would 82 cause a reasonable person to conclude that such statement was 83 false, and the owner, licensee, or operator fails to take 84 reasonable steps to permanently remove the statement and any 85 related report from any website over which the newspaper, 86 broadcaster, or periodical has control, the continued appearance 87 of such statement or report on such website after the notice is 88 deemed a new publication for purpose of the statute of 89 limitations, and the owner, licensee, or operator is not 90 entitled to a fair reporting privilege for such new publication. 91 Section 3.This act shall take effect July 1, 2025.