TEC Confirms Phelan to Ban Memes

Phelan’s pants pulled down during hearing on meme regulation bill.

Many people are saying they saw it coming when it was revealed during a House committee meeting on Wednesday that Dade Phelan was lying about his bill to regulate free speech on the internet under the guise of protecting voters from being manipulated by AI.

The harebrained idea to regulate memes ostensibly stems from this mailer which was sent to voters in Phelan’s district during the 2024 Republican primary. Phelan claims (without evidence) that the image was created using “artificial intelligence.”

The top lawyer for the Texas Ethics Commission nervously informed Phelan that his bill would in fact criminalize normal people posting memes on the internet. It was funny to see Phelan’s bill fall apart in just the first few seconds of questioning. Apparently this was his first bill in 4 years. LOL (2 minutes)

When the meme part blew up in his face, the discussion flopped around like a redfish, and eventually it was argued by Phelan that we need a bill like his Meme Bill due to the threat of AI to influence elections, citing “deepfake” robocalls using Joe Biden’s voice to Florida voters in 2024. The discussion got really big-brained when they discussed how the government could potentially regulate satire.

Phelan paraphrased Obama at the start of his remarks, emphasizing the untruths about his Meme Bill, “If you like your memes, you can keep your memes.”

Sort of ominous when you consider what they are planning to try to ram through for the “school choice” scheme. Apparently they will just say anything, even if it’s proven untrue just a few seconds later.

Several comments were made by multiple lawmakers to the effect of “We will just pass something to regulate the First Amendment as much as we can, and let the courts figure out if it’s legal.” — No, I’m not kidding.

The whole meeting was a disaster. These people need to stay away from regulating how Texans use technology, as they barely even have a grasp on these topics. Apparently, they are just taking personal agenda ideas to younger lobbyists who they perceive as “hip” to technology, and letting the lobbyists run wild.

If voters are truly so dumb they need Dade Phelan to start throwing First Amendment regulations at the wall to see what sticks, then this whole system might be unworkable.

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