Babylon Bee v. Bonta, No. 25-6138

AB 2655, which the California legislature passed in 2024, would have required online platforms to remove any deepfakes of political candidates within the 120 days before an election if they could reasonably hurt the candidate’s reputation or electoral prospects. The district court ruled that Section 230 preempts the law and immunizes interactive computer services from liability that would treat them as the publisher or speaker of third-party content. The court also ruled the law is a content-based restriction on speech that violates the First Amendment. The state appealed, arguing that Section 230 does not apply because the deepfake law does not impose liability for publishing third-party content. 

FIRE, joined by TechFreedom, filed an amicus brief in support of the Babylon Bee arguing that the State misrepresented the most basic function and purpose of Section 230 and the arguments the state made necessarily admit to a First Amendment violation. FIRE’s brief also explains why the First Amendment protects even false political speech.