ADF, Babylon Bee sue over Hawaii online content law

The Alliance Defending Freedom, or ADF, is representing The Babylon Bee satire site in a federal lawsuit challenging Hawaii’s recent online content law, ADF said on Wednesday. The 2024 law bans digitally created, deceptive content that depicts a politician doing or saying something that didn’t actually happen. The law says such content could harm a political candidate’s reputation or change voter decisions based on false information. It institutes penalties including jail time, large fines, and lawsuits for offenders.

How does the law affect a satire site? The Babylon Bee argues that the law is overbroad and penalizes satire and parody, which are protected free speech, according to court documents. While the Hawaii law includes an option for media creators to add a disclaimer to satirical content, it requires a large font size that The Babylon Bee argues would ruin its communications.

About 10,000 people from Hawaii use the Babylon Bee site monthly, according to court documents. Enforcement of the law could lead to the deplatforming of the site. Court documents noted that the Hawaii Office of the Public Defender and many state residents opposed the law’s passage based on free speech concerns. The Motion Picture Association requested that lawmakers add a provision to the law exempting parody and satire, according to court documents.

The Hawaiian officials named as defendants in the lawsuit, including the state attorney general and members of the Campaign Spending Commission, had not publicly commented on it as of Thursday afternoon.

Has a similar case been argued before? The Babylon Bee and ADF previously teamed up to challenge a similar law in California. That suit is still ongoing in a U.S. district court. Attorneys recently motioned for a summary judgement in favor of the satire site, according to court documents.

Dig deeper: Read Lynn Vincent’s report on an interview with Seth Dillon, owner and CEO of The Babylon Bee.