The Babylon Bee filed suit against New Mexico officials Tuesday, arguing a state law that requires AI disclaimers on certain political advertisements, including qualifying satire and parody, violates the First Amendment.
The Christian satire outlet, represented by Alliance Defending Freedom, is challenging HB 182, which amended New Mexico’s Campaign Reporting Act in 2024 to add disclosure requirements for political advertisements generated in whole or part by artificial intelligence, and to create a separate offense for distributing “materially deceptive media” within 90 days of an election when the distributor knows the content falsely represents someone and intends the distribution to mislead voters. Under the law, satire or parody is exempt from that distribution offense — but only if it carries the AI disclaimer, the very feature the Bee is challenging.
The complaint contends the mandated label defeats the purpose of the joke itself, stating that spelling out a communication’s satirical nature “each and every time” strips it of its rhetorical force, Fox News reported. Babylon Bee CEO Seth Dillon told the outlet the requirement amounts to compelled speech, saying the state is “stuffing words into our mouths.”
The suit comes days after the Bee posted an AI-generated mock travel ad mocking New Mexico and state Supreme Court Justice David K. Thomson, who is on the November ballot. Mr. Dillon said the Bee intends to keep publishing similar content regardless of the law and is suing pre-emptively rather than waiting to be penalized.
The complaint names the seven members of the New Mexico Ethics Commission, which enforces the provision, and seeks injunctions blocking enforcement. Fines for violations can reach $1,000 per instance and up to $20,000 in the aggregate, according to the filing.
ADF Chief Legal Counsel Jim Campbell argued the government has no authority to referee which political speech is acceptable. The complaint also notes that Democratic Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham flagged portions of the bill as ambiguous when she signed it, and that Attorney General Raul Torrez separately concluded the disclaimer requirement was likely unconstitutional as applied to satire and parody.
The New Mexico Ethics Commission dismissed the lawsuit as “baseless,” telling Fox News it has never enforced the disclaimer requirement against political satire.
New Mexico is the third state ADF has sued on the Bee’s behalf over similar laws. Federal courts struck down comparable statutes in both California and Hawaii as unconstitutional, with Hawaii officials ultimately paying more than $118,000 in attorneys’ fees to settle the case.
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