Bear Ribs
Well-known member
House Bill 991 (2023) - The Florida Senate
www.flsenate.gov
Synopisis:
Defamation, False Light, and Unauthorized Publication of Name or Likenesses; Provides that journalist's privilege does not apply to defamation claims when defendant is professional journalist or media entity; revises provisions concerning venue for certain actions; provides for attorney fees & costs to prevailing plaintiffs in certain actions; specifies certain persons may not be considered public figures; provides certain allegations are defamatory per se; provides statutory damages to prevailing plaintiffs who are subject of such allegations; creates presumption that statement by anonymous source is presumptively false; provides public figure does not need to show actual malice to prevail in defamation action.
HB991 is aimed at curbing defamation and removes a number of defenses, to my reading it looks more like trying to crack down on Sandmann style shenanigans. From my own reading of it the big ones are:
It removes the "Actual Malice" clause that makes it so ridiculously hard to prove libel in most states, since proving actual malice means reading the minds of the media owner. This will make curbing abuses by Mainstream Media easier because now you only have to prove they lied about you and that their lies are something a reasonable person wouldn't want to be said about them.
Anonymous Sources are presumptively false. Mainstream Media has to be able to present a real source, at least to the court, rather than claiming they know a source but can't name or describe them. This obviously ties directly into the above point as it removes a potential abuse point of anonymous sources being cited, safe from being scrutinized or their story being dissected for falsehoods.
If a private individual is put in the spotlight in a negative way, Media has to be sure they can back up the claims. (This is what makes me think this is Sandmann inspired).
Calling somebody a bigot, transphobe, racist, etc. is defamation and you need to be able to prove a person is an actual bigot and didn't, f'rex, just play Hogwarts Legacy or made the OK sign in a selfie 25 years ago.
Needless to say, certain people are losing their minds. In the same flavor as the Don't Say Gay bill, this one's being called the Empower Bigots bill. Here's one finely crafted bit of misinformation:
She removed the line There are obvious reasons to doubt the veracity of a report when: to make it look like it says people aren't allowed to use the truth as a defense in LGBTQ cases rather than the bill emphasizing the opposite and confirming that Truth is a valid defense.