ACLU of Florida flags First Amendment concerns about House Bill 667
TALLAHASSEE, FL — Today, the House Civil Justice & Claims Subcommittee passed HB 667, sponsored by Rep. J.J. Grow. HB 667 would remove long-standing protections that have allowed the press to report on current events fairly and accurately.
Kara Gross, legislative director and senior policy counsel of the ACLU of Florida, responded with the following:
“Freedom of speech and a free press are the hallmarks of a healthy democracy. HB 667 threatens both these freedoms by weakening state laws that have long protected media outlets, journalists, and citizens alike from censorship and frivolous lawsuits.
“This overly broad bill would expose media outlets to unlimited damages if they do not permanently remove online articles in their entirety within a strict 10-day timeframe if any part of the online article is inaccurate. Additionally, it would eliminate the current two-year statute of limitations and replace it with an unprecedented and excessive 20-year statute of limitations. Lastly, and perhaps most alarmingly, it would completely sidestep the judicial process by requiring media outlets to permanently remove statements and any related reports from the internet without any judicial determination that the statement contains false information.
“The government should not be in the business of chilling speech and censoring media outlets, especially where there has been no judicial determination of any false reporting.
“This overly broad and vague bill threatens our First Amendment protections and, if passed, will chill, silence, and punish media outlets across the board for doing their jobs. For all of these reasons and more, we urge the legislature to abandon this bill and go back to the drawing board.”
