A popular satirical news site is suing California over laws signed by Governor Gavin Newsom aimed at regulating satire and parody, particularly political content.
The Babylon Bee’s founder told The Daily Wire that the lawsuit was filed in federal court on Monday.
The lawsuit argues that the new laws, which require clear labeling or removal of “materially deceptive” content, undermine First Amendment protections. These laws reportedly target AI-generated disinformation, but critics like Babylon Bee CEO Seth Dillon argue that they are designed to suppress political speech critical of the government.
“If we’re unable to publish satire without putting disclaimers all over it, and we’re going to face potential penalties if we don’t do that, then that’s a very serious issue too,” Dillon said. “So we’re fighting back in every way that we can against laws that clamp down on speech.”
The suit was filed with assistance from Alliance Defending Freedom, citing potential free speech violations. California attorney Kelly Chang Rickert filed the suit in tandem with Alliance Defending Freedom President Kristen Waggoner.
Waggoner warned that the left-leaning state’s new laws “target core political speech.”
“These laws were passed by politicians to protect politicians from speech that they don’t like,” Waggoner said.
In July, Newsom made a vow to make the manipulation of election content via Artificial Intelligence (AI) illegal. The public announcement came after tech entrepreneur Elon Musk shared a satirical advertisement using Vice President Kamala Harris’ voice.
Newsom’s law, which is set to take place immediately, makes it illegal to create and publish deep fakes — including parody videos — related to the election 120 days before Election Day and 60 days after, according to DailyMail.
The law also allows courts to halt the distribution of deep fakes and impose civil penalties on the creator.
The FEC has engaged in similar regulations after outlawing AI-generated robocalls in February.
