By Leah Barkoukis | Town Hall
Free speech advocates are celebrating after California agreed it would not enforce one of its new censorship laws targeting political satire and parody.
The development comes less than a month after Alliance Defending Freedom attorneys, on behalf of The Babylon Bee and attorney Kelly Chang Rickert, sued the state over two new laws that aim to censor online content.
“All of it’s on a knife’s edge. It’s on a knife’s edge right now. So this is really, really, really, really important right now. Folks, look, think about it. He is talking about doing away with the entire Department of Education — he means it, this is not a joke. This [is] a guy who also wants to replace every civil servant, every single one,” Biden said.
“Because one of those laws, AB 2839, went into effect immediately, The Babylon Bee and Rickert—as well as a plaintiff in another case—asked the federal judges to immediately put that law on hold. That law applies around election time to censor digitally edited content that is “materially deceptive” and addresses candidates, elected officials, and other election material related to California elections. The law also forces speakers to include a disclaimer when posting satire and imposes severe penalties, allowing anyone who sees the content to sue and obtain attorneys’ fees, costs, and damages.“