The Babylon Bee, Tim Pool, and Minds, Inc. file lawsuit against California AG over social media regulation

Dillon argues that if the state requires Big Tech to eliminate hateful or misleading content, these companies will simply suppress anything they dislike, including opinions, jokes, and factual statements. He cites firsthand experience with such censorship.

The Babylon Bee, Tim Pool, and Minds, Inc. file lawsuit against California AG over social media regulation
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Babylon Bee CEO Seth Dillon announced on Wednesday that the satirical publication, together with podcaster Tim Pool and Minds, Inc., has filed a lawsuit against California Attorney General Rob Bonta.

The lawsuit alleges that a new law regulating social media companies, known as AB 587, infringes upon the First Amendment. Dillon revealed in a Substack post that the plaintiffs are seeking to prevent state officials from enforcing the law, which mandates social media companies to submit quarterly reports on their content moderation policies to the Attorney General's Office.

AB 587 encompasses various speech categories, such as misinformation/disinformation, extremism/radicalization, and hate speech. Non-compliance with the reporting requirements could result in fines. The lawsuit asserts that the law was intentionally crafted to deter constitutionally protected expression and fails to adhere to the Fourteenth Amendment's vagueness doctrine, which requires criminal laws to clearly define punishable conduct.

Dillon argues that if the state requires Big Tech to eliminate hateful or misleading content, these companies will simply suppress anything they dislike, including opinions, jokes, and factual statements. He cites firsthand experience with such censorship.

“If Big Tech is tasked by the state with eliminating hateful or misinformative content, they’ll stuff everything they don’t like into those categories, including opinions, jokes, and even factual statements,” Dillon said in a statement. “We’ve already experienced it first hand.”

Last year, Twitter banned The Babylon Bee for an article that humorously referred to Health and Human Services Assistant Secretary Rachel Levine, a transgender woman, as "Man of the Year." Elon Musk, a reader of The Babylon Bee, reinstated the account after acquiring the platform.

Despite previous Twitter management actively censoring accounts like The Babylon Bee, California legislators have introduced a new law demanding more action from social media companies to suppress speech deemed hateful or harassing.

California State Senator Jesse Gabriel, the author of AB 587, stated that the law aims to address the link between social media and radicalization, often driven by white supremacy and extremist ideology. Governor Gavin Newsom declared upon signing the bill that California would not tolerate social media being used as a tool for spreading hate and disinformation.

However, Dillon contends that the law is overly vague, labeling it a censorship bill despite officials claiming it promotes transparency. He asserts that laws should prohibit viewpoint discrimination, rather than forcing compliance under threat of penalties.

“We need laws that prohibit viewpoint discrimination, not laws that compel it under threat of penalties (and under the guise of good-faith content moderation),” Dillon said.

“It’s a good thing when people are allowed to speak freely,” he continued. “It’s a bad thing when Big Tech and the government work together to decide what we’re allowed to say. Why? Because they often get it wrong. Even worse, they get it wrong on purpose.”

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