No Laughing Matter: Hawaii Latest State To Crack Down On Speech, Satire

California’s civil law AB 2839 against “materially deceptive” political content four months before elections, including memes and parodies of elected officials, didn’t even last a month after satirists sued the Golden State in the final weeks of the 2024 campaign, with one federal judge blocking it and state Attorney General Rob Bonta promising another not to enforce it.

But Hawaii beat California to the punch with its own law (S 2687) that criminalizes “recklessly” distributing “materially deceptive media” that could harm “the reputation or electoral prospects of a candidate” or change “voting behavior,” applicable for nine months before every election, with exemptions for “disclaimers, broadcasters, and interactive computer services.”

The conservative Christian satire website behind one of the California lawsuits and a Christian meme-sharing Honolulan critic of Democratic Gov. Josh Green, who is up for reelection next year, have now sued the Aloha State to block the law before it next takes effect.

“Both ‘Hawai’i’ and ‘Aloha’ are rooted in ‘-ha,’ the Hawaiian word for ‘breath of life,’” plaintiff Dawn O’Brien said in a statement by her lawyers at the Alliance Defending Freedom, also representing the satire site, The Babylon Bee, for a second time.

“It’s the very essence of our identity: to breathe and speak freely, to express our hearts with one another!” O’Brien said. She would face a $2,000 fine and a year in prison if she violates the law within five years of a first conviction, which carries a $1,000 fine and 30-day sentence.