Babylon Bee, Rumble Push Back Against California’s Censorship of Satire

The Babylon Bee and Rumble are suing California over two laws that censor political satire during election season, including some images like memes that mock political candidates.

A hearing in a Sacramento federal court was held Tuesday to determine whether the laws will be permanently blocked after a judge issued a temporary injunction. The final decision is expected in the coming weeks.

The Babylon Bee, which posts satirical content, and Rumble, a major video-hosting platform, filed their challenge in September along with California attorney and blogger Kelly Chang Rickert. California Democratic Governor Gavin Newsom had signed the pair of laws just days earlier.

The two state laws, AB 2839 and AB 2655, prohibit pictures and videos “likely to harm” a candidate’s “electoral prospects” during election season. California would punish anyone who distributes “materially deceptive content” about candidates or elected officials.

One of the laws forces people to include a disclaimer when posting satire, and the other law requires large online platforms to label or remove posts with “materially deceptive content.”

The penalties include paying significant fines.

The plaintiffs’ legal team at Alliance Defending Freedom argues that the laws are essentially a war on memes and use “vague standards” to violate their clients’ constitutionally protected right to post political content online freely.

“That should be really scary,” Jonathan Scruggs, senior counsel at Alliance Defending Freedom, told The Daily Wire.

“Anytime the government is saying that you can’t on your own social media account distribute things online or repost what other people put online because the government determines that is false, that should really strike fear and it’s really a road to censorship in the political sphere,” Scruggs said.

However, Scruggs said he is optimistic about a favorable outcome for The Babylon Bee and Rumble.

“We’re hopeful in light of [the judge’s] prior ruling, but we’re also hopeful in light of just basic common sense arguments,” the attorney said.

Another lawsuit is ongoing against a similar Hawaii law, where The Babylon Bee is suing along with Dawn O’Brien, a Honolulu voter who runs Instagram and Facebook accounts with thousands of followers where she posts political memes criticizing Democrats.

“It’s something that tracks what more authoritarian regimes are doing across the world,” Scruggs, the attorney, said. “What you see in this arena is the government using the label misinformation or disinformation to regulate what people can say online about politics. And that’s really an anathema to the First Amendment.”

“The best alternative is just counter-speech,” Scruggs added.