Fla. Stat. § 836.01
Punishment for libel
Any person convicted of the publication of a libel shall be guilty of a misdemeanor of the first degree, punishable as provided in s. 775.082 or s. 775.083.
Florida Statutes Chapter 836 — DEFAMATION; LIBEL; THREATENING LETTERS AND SIMILAR OFFENSES
Florida · statute · Fla. Stat. ch. 836 · 15 active provisions
Fla. Stat. § 836.02
Must give name of the party written about
(1) No person shall print, write, publish, circulate or distribute within this state any newspaper, magazine, periodical, pamphlet, or other publication of any character, either written or printed, wherein the alleged immoral acts of any person are stated or pretended to be stated, or wherein it is intimated that any p…
Fla. Stat. § 836.03
Owner or editor of the paper also guilty
Any owner, manager, publisher or editor of any newspaper or other publication who permits any anonymous communication or communications such as is signed otherwise than with the true name of the writer, and such name published therewith to appear in the columns of the publication in which said communication any person…
Fla. Stat. § 836.04
Defamation
Whoever speaks of and concerning any woman, married or unmarried, falsely and maliciously imputing to her a want of chastity, shall be guilty of a misdemeanor of the first degree, punishable as provided in s. 775.082 or s. 775.083.
Fla. Stat. § 836.05
Threats; extortion
(1) Whoever, either verbally or by a written or printed communication, maliciously threatens to accuse another of any crime or offense, or by such communication maliciously threatens an injury to the person, property or reputation of another, or maliciously threatens to expose another to disgrace, or to expose any secr…
Fla. Stat. § 836.06
Punishment for making derogatory statements concerning banks and building and loan associations
Any person who shall willfully and maliciously make, circulate or transmit to another or others any false statement, rumor or suggestion, written, printed or by word of mouth, which is directly or by inference derogatory to the financial condition or affects the solvency or financial standing of any banking institution…
Fla. Stat. § 836.07
Notice condition precedent to prosecution for libel
Before any criminal action is brought for publication, in a newspaper periodical, of a libel, the prosecutor shall at least 5 days before instituting such action serve notice in writing on defendant, specifying the article and the statements therein which he or she alleges to be false and defamatory.
Fla. Stat. § 836.08
Correction, apology, or retraction by newspaper
(1) If it appears upon the trial that said article was published in good faith; that its falsity was due to an honest mistake of the facts; that there were reasonable grounds for believing that the statements in said article were true; and that, within the period of time specified in subsection (2), a full and fair cor…
Fla. Stat. § 836.09
Communicating libelous matter to newspapers; penalty
If any person shall state, deliver, or transmit by any means whatever, to the manager, editor, publisher or reporter of any newspaper or periodical for publication therein any false and libelous statement concerning any person, then and there known by such person to be false or libelous, and thereby secure the publicat…
Fla. Stat. § 836.10
Written or electronic threats to kill, do bodily injury, or conduct a mass shooting or an act of terrorism; punishment; exemption from liability
(1) As used in this section, the term “electronic record” means any record created, modified, archived, received, or distributed electronically which contains any combination of text, graphics, video, audio, or pictorial represented in digital form, but does not include a telephone call.(2) It is unlawful for any perso…
Fla. Stat. § 836.11
Publications which tend to expose persons to hatred, contempt, or ridicule prohibited
(1) It shall be unlawful to print, publish, distribute or cause to be printed, published or distributed by any means, or in any manner whatsoever, any publication, handbill, dodger, circular, booklet, pamphlet, leaflet, card, sticker, periodical, literature, paper or other printed material which tends to expose any ind…
Fla. Stat. § 836.115
Cyberintimidation by publication
(1) As used in this section, the term:(a) “Electronically publish” means to disseminate, post, or otherwise disclose information to an Internet site or forum.(b) “Harass” has the same meaning as provided in s. 817.568(1)(c).(c) “Personal identification information” has the same meaning as provided in s. 817.568(1)(f).(…
Fla. Stat. § 836.12
Threats or harassment
(1) As used in this section, the term:(a) “Administrative assistant” means a court employee assigned to the office of a specific general or special magistrate or a child support enforcement hearing officer.(b) “Family member” means:1. An individual related to another individual by blood or marriage; or2. An individual…
Fla. Stat. § 836.13
Altered sexual depictions; prohibited acts; penalties; applicability
(1) As used in this section, the term:(a) “Altered sexual depiction” means any visual depiction that, as a result of any type of digital, electronic, mechanical, or other modification, alteration, or adaptation, depicts a realistic version of an identifiable person:1. With the nude body parts of another person as the n…
Fla. Stat. § 836.14
Theft or unauthorized promotion of a sexually explicit image
(1) As used in this section, the term:(a) “Identifiable person” has the same meaning as in s. 836.13.(b) “Promote” has the same meaning as in s. 836.13.(c) “Sexually explicit image” means any image depicting an identifiable person portraying nudity as defined in s. 847.001 or an identifiable person engaging in sexual c…