ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — Legislation proposing sweeping changes to Florida's libel and defamation law will be heard in committee Tuesday morning.
House Bill 991 was filed on Feb. 21. Experts say if passed, it could have implications not just for media outlets but anyone posting online. Similar legislation was filed in the Senate as SB 1220.
Santa Clara University School of Law professor Eric Goldman says this bill isn't pro-Democrat or pro-Republican — he argues it's anti-speech. HB 991 would create a presumption that a statement by an anonymous source is presumptively false for purposes of defamation.
The bill also discusses publishing untrue allegations "that the plaintiff has discriminated against another person or group because of their race, sex, sexual orientation, or gender identity constitutes defamation per se."
Gov. Ron DeSantis in February hosted a livestreamed "panel discussion on defamation" touting his plan to make it easier to bring defamation lawsuits against the media or people who post things on the internet about public officials and employees, according to The Associated Press.
"You smear somebody, it’s false, and you didn’t do your homework, you’re going to have to be held accountable for that," DeSantis said while concluding the event. "Hopefully, you’ll see more and more of that across the country."
The AP reports DeSantis is seeking to undercut a 1964 U.S. Supreme Court decision that shielded news outlets from libel judgments unless proven that they were published with “actual malice” — knowing that something was false or acting with “reckless disregard” to whether it was true. Florida legislation to carry out DeSantis’ plan would make it unnecessary to prove “actual malice” when the allegedly defamatory statements don’t relate to the reason why someone is a public figure.
Goldman says HB 991 would make it easier for the "little guy" to go after media companies reporting false information, but it would also make it easier for the little guy to be sued, as well.
10 Tampa Bay asked Goldman about the implications of this bill.
"This law is almost clearly unconstitutional on multiple fronts. And so most legislatures are reluctant to pass unconstitutional laws because they're just wasting their taxpayers' time and money," Goldman said. "But I don't know that the Florida Legislature is worried about that."
Rep. Alex Andrade, who is sponsoring the bill, said it is "a sincere attempt to try and fix the problems that exist in this type of law," the AP reports.
"This bill would make it easier for someone who’s actually been harmed by a defamatory statement to pursue justice in Florida courts," Andrade said.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.