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MIAMI – Newspapers, radio and TV news stations must take down false and defamatory news stories from their websites under a new Florida proposed bill.

Senator Corey Simon (R-Tallahassee) is sponsoring SB 752 which amends Florida’s defamation laws if new articles are untrue or draw complaints.

Simon’s bill wipes out Florida’s far reporting privilege which shields the media from being sued if they are accused of defamation.

Despite stories being published with accurate information and documents and statements supporting the facts, an individual or organization can force the media to take down any articles from websites that could damage their reputation.

“The bill simply provides that if a newspaper or television station places a story on the internet and later learns that it’s untrue because of a court decision or because it received information that would convince a reasonable person that the report was untrue, it would remove it from the internet or lose its privileges,” Simon told the Senate Commerce and Tourism Committee.

Simon’s bill stems from a Miami story in which a man was accused of child molestation that caused him to lose his job.

Prosecutors later dropped the charges, and the man was awarded damages by a jury after filing a defamation lawsuit against the kid’s family members.

Critics said Simon’s bill could open the floodgates of defamation complaints against the media even if the articles are accurate.

“Just because someone is acquitted doesn’t mean the original story about their arrest was false. This bill is a weaponized censorship dressed up as accountability,” Bobby Block, executive director of the First Amendment Foundation, told senators.

The bill, approved Tuesday in a 6-3 vote, would need to clear the Rules Committee before it could go to the full Senate.

A companion bill in the House is being debated.