Satire website Babylon Bee sues California over censorship laws

Attorneys representing the Babylon Bee, a conservative satire website, said they filed a complaint on Monday against California over laws that Gov. Gavin Newsom recently signed, which "censor online content, including political satire."

Alliance Defending Freedom attorneys are representing The Babylon Bee and Kelly Chang Rickert, a California attorney, in the lawsuit.

The attorneys said the laws "interfere with The Babylon Bee’s and Rickert’s freedom of speech," which is protected by the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution.

The lawyers argued that the laws use "vague standards to punish people for posting certain political content online, including political memes and parodies" of elected officials.

“California’s war against political memes is censorship, plain and simple. We shouldn’t trust the government to decide what is true in our online political debates,” said ADF Vice President of Litigation Strategy and Center for Conscience Initiatives Jonathan Scruggs. “Gov. Newsom has no constitutional authority to act as the humor police. While lawmakers act as if posting and resharing memes is a threat to democracy, these laws at the end of the day censor speech California politicians don’t like. We are urging the court to affirm that the First Amendment protects The Babylon Bee’s and Ms. Rickert’s freedom to poke fun at political leaders.”