- Feb 5, 2002
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For years, there has been a progressive effort to criminalize parody and political humor, a push that hit a low point in 2023 when satirist Douglas Mackey was sentenced to seven months in prison for engaging in “conspiracy against rights” over an Internet meme.
Fortunately, a unanimous appellate court overturned his conviction, finding that there wasn’t a shred of evidence indicating that Mackey had ever coordinated, solicited, or intimidated anyone in posting his meme, as the prosecution had alleged. The man had simply told a joke.
Despite this, progressive states continue to try to put guardrails on speech, including political satire, but they, too, are learning that the First Amendment is an especially strong bulwark against government authoritarianism.
The latest to learn the lesson is Hawaii.
The Aloha State recently agreed to pay approximately $118,000 in attorney fees and costs to the satire website The Babylon Bee and political activist Dawn O’Brien after the pair successfully challenged the state’s law banning certain “materially deceptive” election-related content. The law targeted parody and satirical political content deemed harmful to a candidate’s reputation during election season and threatened fines and jail time for creators unless they added disclaimers stating that the material was fictional.
Continued below.
www.standingforfreedom.com
Fortunately, a unanimous appellate court overturned his conviction, finding that there wasn’t a shred of evidence indicating that Mackey had ever coordinated, solicited, or intimidated anyone in posting his meme, as the prosecution had alleged. The man had simply told a joke.
Despite this, progressive states continue to try to put guardrails on speech, including political satire, but they, too, are learning that the First Amendment is an especially strong bulwark against government authoritarianism.
The latest to learn the lesson is Hawaii.
The Aloha State recently agreed to pay approximately $118,000 in attorney fees and costs to the satire website The Babylon Bee and political activist Dawn O’Brien after the pair successfully challenged the state’s law banning certain “materially deceptive” election-related content. The law targeted parody and satirical political content deemed harmful to a candidate’s reputation during election season and threatened fines and jail time for creators unless they added disclaimers stating that the material was fictional.
Continued below.
Babylon Bee Wins Hawaii Free Speech Settlement
Hawaii agreed to pay more than $118,000 after The Babylon Bee defeated a censorship law that swept political satire into an unconstitutional speech regime.
