Description: Satire website The Babylon Bee is challenging a New Mexico law that makes it illegal to use AI to create satire of political candidates or issues without a state-mandated warning label. The ban applies year-round, covers everything from flyers to social media posts to memes, and threatens steep penalties, including fines up to $20,000.
Babylon Bee sues New Mexico for outlawing AI to create political satire, memes
ADF attorneys represent satire website challenging state law banning AI-created content without state-mandated disclaimers
Tuesday, Aug 11, 2026
SANTA FE, N.M. – Alliance Defending Freedom attorneys representing The Babylon Bee filed a lawsuit Tuesday challenging a New Mexico law that makes it illegal to use AI to create satire of political candidates or issues without a state-mandated warning label. The ban applies year-round, covers everything from flyers to social media posts to memes, and threatens steep penalties, including fines up to $20,000.
As the lawsuit explains, HB 182 empowers state officials to punish core political speech, including criticism of political candidates and proposed ballot measures. That not only interferes with online satire website The Babylon Bee’s constitutionally protected freedom of speech, but it also strikes at the very reason the First Amendment was ratified—to ensure wide-open political debate.
“New Mexico is censoring political speech it dislikes. We should not trust the government to decide what is true in our political debates,” said ADF Legal Counsel Logan Spena. “The Babylon Bee is seeking to uphold its fundamental right to speak freely and ensure that our political system remains one of self-government. We’re proud to have successfully represented the Bee in two other cases challenging state censorship, and we’ll strive for a similar outcome in New Mexico.”
“We’re used to getting pulled over by the joke police, but comedy isn’t a crime,” said Babylon Bee CEO Seth Dillon. “The First Amendment protects our right to create AI satire poking fun at political candidates. We’ll never stop fighting to defend that freedom.”
Attorneys explain how New Mexico’s law purports to restrict “materially deceptive media,” yet its definition sweeps in some of the most important forms of political speech—satire, parody, and political cartoon—long cherished in our constitutional tradition. These forms include content that is literally false, even as they employ exaggeration, overstatement, or inversion to communicate a true, and often vital, message.
ADF attorneys filed The Babylon Bee v. Castillo in the U.S. District Court for the District of New Mexico. Melanie J. Rhodes of And Justice Legal in Albuquerque is serving as local counsel for the Bee.
ADF attorneys filed lawsuits on behalf of the Bee against similar laws in California and Hawaii and achieved legal victories in both cases.
- Pronunciation guide: Spena (SPEE’-nuh)
Alliance Defending Freedom is an alliance-building, non-profit legal organization committed to protecting religious freedom, free speech, parental rights, and the sanctity of life.
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