The Babylon Bee, an ultra-popular Christian satire and political commentary site, is suing Rob Bonta, the Attorney General of California, in protest of the state’s “war against political speech,” which the company’s attorney described as “censorship, plain and simple.” The Bee’s CEO, Seth Dillon, has argued that California Governor Gavin Newsom has displayed a blatant “misuse of power” by penalizing any form of political parody posted online.
For background, on August 4, 2025, The Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF), a conservative legal advocacy group, announced that it was supporting The Babylon Bee, a satirical news site known for its hilarious headlines, along with the free speech-oriented video platform Rumble, in a lawsuit against California Attorney General Rob Bonta.
In addition, according to the ADF, the Bee and Rumble are pushing back against AB 2839, a California law that restricts “memes and parodies of politicians,” which are key aspects of the Bee’s brand. Furthermore, the lawsuit also challenges AB 2655, a law requiring platforms like Rumble to remove certain types of political commentary from their sites.
Speaking about the case in a press release, ADF Senior Counsel Johannes Widmalm-Delphonse said, “California’s war against political speech is censorship, plain and simple. We can’t trust the government to decide what is true in our online political debates.” He added that the bills named in the lawsuit “are the most recent iterations of California’s attempt to censor and compel speech it doesn’t like.”
Continuing, Widmalm-Delphonse said that California courts have already ruled that state officials like AG Bonta “can’t force social media platforms to say things they don’t want to say.” He continued, “Now California is doubling down and trying to regulate the speech of everyday Americans posting satirical content on the internet. Everyone should recognize that this type of censorial power will be abused. That’s why these laws violate the First Amendment.”
Moreover, Babylon Bee CEO Seth Dillon hilariously said that the Bee’s work “is hard enough when our jokes keep coming true, as if they were prophecies,” referring to a reported dozens of times that the Bee’s humorous fake headlines eventually came true. He continued, “But it becomes significantly more difficult when self-serving politicians abuse their power to try to control public discourse and clamp down on comedy.” Dillon concluded, “Unfortunately for them, the First Amendment secures our right to tell jokes they don’t like.”
Additionally, Rumble spokesman Tim Murtaugh weighed in on the restrictive California bills named in the lawsuit, saying, “The idea that the government could evaluate political speech and determine whether it gets allowed, suppressed, or wiped out entirely is deeply disturbing.” Murtaugh went on, “At Rumble, we stand firmly for free expression and creative liberty, which is why we’re proud to partner with ADF in defending the right to speak freely online.”
Importantly, the lawsuit reportedly stems from a complaint made by Gov. Gavin Newsom that a parody video of then-Vice President Kamala Harris “should be illegal,” which led to AB 2839 and 2655 being signed into law on September 17, 2024. However, the ADF is now working alongside The Babylon Bee and Rumble to petition for the court to place an injunction on both bills, enhancing free speech in the state.
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