Rumble, a video-sharing platform and cloud services provider, has filed a lawsuit against California’s Attorney General and Secretary of State over AB 2655, “Defending Democracy from Deepfake Deception Act of 2024 (signed into law this September).

The legislators who concocted this measure assert that it merely requires online platforms to remove or label content deemed “materially deceptive” about elections, public officials, and candidates for office. Theoretically, the rules only kick in 120 days before an election and 6o days after.

The mandated actions for items deemed “deceptive” by the state’s government have angered Rumble and led to the lawsuit, as there are deep concerns about its abuse to censor free speech. Rumble is being represented by The Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF).

California recently passed two laws that target and punish speakers for posting certain political commentary online. One of those laws, AB 2655, also requires large online platforms like Rumble to act as the government’s censorship police and remove such content from their sites. California is forcing Rumble to alter its speech and censor its users’ speech, while also compelling the platform’s speech, in violation of the First Amendment...