In defense of the First Amendment, attorneys from Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF) filed a federal lawsuit last Wednesday on behalf of Rumble, a prominent video-sharing platform, and its Canadian subsidiary, Rumble Canada. The lawsuit challenges two recently enacted California laws—AB 2655 and AB 2839—that impose new restrictions on online platforms and users posting political content.
The laws, signed into law by Governor Gavin Newsom on September 17, are aimed at curbing what they describe as harmful or misleading political speech online. AB 2655 mandates that large platforms like Rumble remove and label content deemed “reasonably likely to harm the reputation or electoral prospects” of candidates or to “falsely undermine confidence” in elections. It also requires platforms to actively police such content, effectively deputizing them as government agents of censorship. Noncompliance could result in legal action against the platforms.
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ADF attorneys argue that these laws violate the First Amendment by compelling platforms to alter their own speech, censor users, and adopt messaging dictated by the state.
“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,” said ADF Senior Counsel Phil Sechler. “Rumble is one of the few online voices stepping up against this trend of censorship while other platforms and sites cave to totalitarian regimes censoring Americans. Rumble is standing for free speech even when it is hard. Other online platforms and media companies must see these laws for what they are—a threat to their existence.”
The push for these laws followed a public outcry earlier this year when Governor Newsom criticized a parody video of Vice President Kamala Harris, calling it content that “should be illegal.” In response, California lawmakers accelerated the passage of the bills. AB 2839, in particular, uses vague standards to penalize individuals for posting certain election-related content, including memes and satirical portrayals of politicians.
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Rumble’s lawsuit, Rumble v. Bonta, was filed in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of California. The platform argues that the state’s laws force it to apply subjective and inconsistent standards in censoring content, posing a threat not only to user speech but also to Rumble’s ability to operate as an independent platform.
The legal action follows a similar lawsuit filed by ADF in September on behalf of The Babylon Bee, a satirical news site, and California attorney Kelly Chang Rickert. In that case, a federal court found that AB 2839 likely violates the First Amendment, leading state officials to agree not to enforce the law against those plaintiffs during the ongoing legal process.
Rumble is positioning itself as a defender of free speech in the digital age, challenging laws it views as unconstitutional. “These laws are a threat to the existence of online platforms and media companies,” Sechler said. “They undermine the principles of free expression by forcing platforms to become instruments of censorship.”
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The lawsuit marks a significant escalation in the battle over online speech and government regulation. With the growing intersection of technology, politics, and free speech rights, the outcome of Rumble v. Bonta could set a precedent for how states can regulate online platforms in the future.
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