Florida Department of Health: Department threatens legal proceedings against local TV stations for airing political ad

On October 3, 2024, the Florida Department of Health sent identical letters to at least two local TV stations concerning their broadcast of a political ad advocating abortion rights. The department alleged that the ad contained false claims about Florida’s abortion law and therefore constituted an unlawful “sanitary nuisance” that must be removed from the air.

On October 10, FIRE wrote a letter calling on the department to rescind its demand that the TV stations stop airing the ad and reminding the department that under our constitutional framework, counterspeech — not censorship — is the remedy for speech believed to be false.