In a big win for freedom of speech, a federal district court has blocked a Hawaiian state law that would censor satire and some political opinions. In Babylon Bee vs Lopez the court ruled the state cannot censor speech it doesn’t like.

Popular satirical website Babylon Bee took up the case after a law was signed in 2024 that had wide ranging implications for freedom of speech, especially in relation to satire. The law would have required jokes and satirical posts to include large disclaimers, and failure to do so could have resulted in jail time or large fines.

The Alliance Defending Freedom represented the Bee and after the ruling ADF Legal Counsel Matthew Hoffmann said:

The court is right to put a stop to Hawaii’s war against political memes and satire. The First Amendment doesn’t allow Hawaii to choose what political speech is acceptable and censor speech in the name of ‘misinformation.’ That censorship is both undemocratic and unnecessary.

HRLA previously covered the Bee’s fights against censorship, after they also successfully challenged two similar California laws.

Unfortunately, Australia’s free speech protections continue to be inadequate, and there is an irony that one of the posts that landed HRLA client Dr Jereth Kok in legal trouble for his free speech was sharing a Babylon Bee post.

And with a trend of increasing restrictions, such as the recent federal hate laws, it does not look like Australian free speech protections will improve in the near future..

HRLA continues to stand ready to defend the fundamental right of Australians to speak their mind and offer political commentary, including satire.