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Sued over a Facebook post? First Amendment advocates say defamation law will stifle free speech

An Instagram post calling a city council member corrupt is an example of what you could get sued for, First Amendment advocates say, if two Florida bills become law.

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — How many times have you already reached for your phone and scrolled through Instagram or Facebook today?

Two bills moving quickly through the Florida legislature might make you pause before you post. They would make it easier for you to be sued over a status update.

An Instagram post calling a city council member corrupt or a Facebook post criticizing how your HOA is spending money are examples of what you could get sued for, First Amendment advocates say, if these bills become law.

"I use social media all the time," said Christina Wagner, owner of Rain Dogs in Five Points. "We do a lot of events at my spot, Rain Dogs, and I want people to know about it. I want people to organize. I want people to see what's going on."

Wagner uses social media to promote her business and to discuss political issues. But online speech could get much riskier. If two new bills are signed into law in Florida, it will become easier to get sued for what you post, political or not.

"What they do is they lower the bar where people can sue critics for saying things that they don't like," said First Amendment Foundation Executive Director Bobby Block.

The bills would change Florida's defamation law, as Block explains. First Coast News asked him about another example.

"Someone's grandparent could go on a Facebook rant, say something about a politician or someone locally," First Coast News began. "Someone in the comments could end up suing that grandparent?"

"Oh yeah," Block said. "For sure."

Governor Ron DeSantis says the legislation's intention is to stop journalists from defaming people.

"I don't think it's going to cause much of a difference in terms of free speech," DeSantis responded to First Coast News's question at a news conference last week.

DeSantis also responded with the following: "I think what's happened is particularly corporate media outlets have relied on anonymous sources to smear people and I just think that that's something that is fundamentally wrong."

Block says the legislation would impact everyone on social media, not just journalists.

"The fact is in the United States of America people have a right to have these kinds of conversations," Block said. "And this law would stop that."

The law also presumes that anything said by a journalist's anonymous source is presumed to be both false and defamatory. That standard that would have made reporting on everything from Watergate to Abu Ghraib difficult if not impossible. However, The Tampa Bay Times reports the House bill's sponsor is expected to change this to clarify that provision.

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