---
title: "Retraction and correction demand"
url: "https://ailawframework.com/precedents/defamation-and-media-law/us-retraction-demand"
type: "precedent"
site: "AI Law Framework"
id: "a33-us-retraction-demand"
area_id: "A33"
kind: "letter"
ai_level: "yellow"
version: 1
task_ids: ["A33-T1-R2", "A33-A20260923-3", "A33-T1-R10"]
law_stated_as_at: "2026-10-22"
---

# Retraction and correction demand

> A demand that a publisher or broadcaster correct specified statements. California Civil Code section 48a is included only as one state's statute, and only where that section applies.

Canonical page: https://ailawframework.com/precedents/defamation-and-media-law/us-retraction-demand  
Law stated as at: 2026-10-22

Site index for agents: https://ailawframework.com/llms.txt

## Key facts

- Kind: Letter. A letter or email you adapt and send.
- Practice area: [Defamation & Media Law](https://ailawframework.com/precedents/defamation-and-media-law.md)
- Jurisdictions: United States
- AI level: Yellow. You and the tool draft together, with you directing. You check every statement you rely on.
- Law stated as at: 2026-10-22
- Status: Maintained. Checked on 2026-10-22 against the authority it cites, for United States.

## When to use it

Use when the client wants a correction of identified statements. Do not send it as a national retraction notice. Do not insert a deadline from section 48a unless the lawyer has decided that section applies.

## Used for these tasks

- [Draft a pre-action concerns or retraction notice](https://ailawframework.com/practice/defamation-and-media-law/draft-a-pre-action-concerns-or-retraction-notice.md)
- [Compare the published text with a proposed correction](https://ailawframework.com/practice/defamation-and-media-law/compare-the-published-text-with-a-proposed-correction.md)
- [Draft a settlement deed and a corrective statement or apology](https://ailawframework.com/practice/defamation-and-media-law/draft-a-settlement-deed-and-a-corrective-statement-or-apology.md)

## How AI may be used

AI may quote the statements the lawyer marks and address the letter to the publisher the lawyer names. The lawyer decides whether any state statute applies and what correction is asked for.

**AI may:**

- Quote the statements from the captured publication, without smoothing the words
- Insert a state statute only from text the lawyer pastes in
- Flag a deadline that is not tied to a statute the lawyer has named

**AI must not:**

- Must not assert that California Civil Code section 48a applies outside its terms
- Must not threaten exemplary damages as if they follow automatically
- Must not send the letter

**The lawyer checks:**

- The quoted words match the capture
- Any deadline is either omitted or taken from a statute the lawyer has opened
- The letter does not concede a defense or draft the publisher's correction for them to sign as their own words, beyond the correction the client asks to be published

## Authorities

- [Cal. Civ. Code § 48a (correction demand for libel in a daily or weekly news publication, or slander by radio broadcast; text opened on Justia, which warns it may not be the latest official text)](https://law.justia.com/codes/california/code-civ/division-1/part-2/section-48a/)

## Full text and drafting notes

The full text and the drafting notes are not part of this public page. Signed-in firm accounts can read them at https://ailawframework.com/precedents/defamation-and-media-law/us-retraction-demand and through the signed-in MCP connector https://ailawframework.com/mcp/firm.

*Practice guidance for planning and review. Confirm current primary sources and the requirements of the actual matter. This is general information, not legal advice.*