§ 73.056.Disclosure of Evidence of Falsity

An information exchange sitting between the request and the correction.

A person who has been requested to make a correction may ask the requester to provide reasonably available information regarding the falsity of the statement, not later than the 30th day after receiving the request. The requester must then provide it not later than the 30th day after receiving that ask.

Two 30-day periods running in sequence, which is why the request section tolls limitations during them.

The provision addresses the publisher's real difficulty. A demand for retraction asserts that something is false, and the publisher — who believed the statement true when it published — often has no way to evaluate that without knowing what the claimant knows.

The sanction is in subsection (b): if a correction is not made, a person who without good cause fails to disclose the requested information may not recover exemplary damages — unless the publication was made with actual malice.

The actual malice exception is important. A publisher who knew the statement was false, or acted with reckless disregard, gains nothing from this section. It protects the publisher who wanted to get it right.

"Reasonably available" and "without good cause" both soften the obligation. A claimant need not conduct an investigation, and a genuine reason for withholding preserves the punitive claim.