Video-sharing platform Rumble has filed a federal lawsuit against California’s censorship laws. According to Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF) attorneys, the lawyers representing indirect subsidiary Rumble and Rumble Canada, the lawsuit is meant to protect Rumble’s constitutional right to post political content on the internet with no restrictions.
California recently passed two policies that target and penalize internet users who post specific political commentary in online spaces. As one of the largest video-sharing platforms on the internet, Rumble also hosts plenty of political commentary and will undoubtedly be affected by the censorship laws.
The policies include AB 2655, a measure that will require large video-sharing online platforms such as Rumble to represent the government as a ‘censorship police’ and ensure the political commentary in question is identified and purged from their sites. According to the attorneys, the state of California is now forcing Rumble to censor and alter user speech, a clear violation of the company’s and its users’ First Amendment rights.
Alliance Defending Freedom Senior Counsel Phil Sechler says the recent anti-political speech laws passed by California lawmakers represent a clear case of censorship. Furthermore, Sechler said the government cannot be trusted to decide whether the contents discussed in Rumble’s virtual political debates are true. While other online sites and platforms where Americans hold discussions are caving to censorship, Sechler notes, Rumble is still fighting for free speech.
California Governor Gavin Newsom signed the two censorship bills into law in September after they were fast-tracked by the state legislature. Bill AB 2839 censors use vague conditions to censor speech by punishing individuals who post specific election-related content. This includes parodies of U.S. politicians as well as political memes, harkening back to the parody video of Vice President Kamala Harris that drew Governor Newsom’s attention and caused the California legislature to fast-track the measures.
The Rumble lawsuit explains that bill AB 2655 puts Rumble in charge of restricting its users’ political speech in addition to California requiring the platform to alter user-generated content to make it adopt a foreign viewpoint and deliver a message it doesn’t agree with. According to California’s new censorship laws, Rumble is deputized to label and remove content Californian officials have deemed ‘reasonably likely’ to impact the electoral prospects or reputations of political candidates or undermine confidence in elections.
However, what can undermine election confidence or harm the prospects of a political candidate is entirely subjective and hasn’t been agreed upon by government officials and pollsters. If the platform doesn’t comply with these new mandates, the lawsuit claims California officials are authorized to file a lawsuit.
The lawsuit in California illustrates some of the growing challenges that entities like Rumble and Momo Inc. (NASDAQ: MOMO) are having to contend with in some of the jurisdictions where they operate.
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