The Babylon Bee
The Babylon Bee is a conservative Christian news satire website that publishes satirical articles on topics including religion, politics, current events, and public figures. It has been referred to as a Christian or conservative version of The Onion.[1][2]
Type of site
Satirical publication
English
March 1, 2016
Adam Ford
- Owner & CEO: Seth Dillon
- Owner & CTO: Dan Dillon
- Editor-in-chief: Kyle Mann
Active
Content[edit]
The Babylon Bee began by lampooning a wide range of topics including progressives, Democrats, Republicans, Christians, and Donald Trump.[17][18][14] The purpose of the site, according to its founder Adam Ford in 2016, was not just to evoke laughter, but to prompt self-reflection. "It's important to look at what we're doing, to 'examine ourselves.' Satire acts like an overhead projector, taking something that people usually ignore and projecting it up on the wall for everyone to see. It forces us to look at things we wouldn't normally look at and makes us ask if we're okay with them."[19] E.J. Dickson wrote in Rolling Stone in 2020 that The Babylon Bee "initially started out as something of an equal opportunity offender" in the topics it satirized.[20] In an April 2016 Washington Post profile of the site and its founder, Bob Smietana observed that "The Bee excels at poking fun at the small idiosyncrasies of believers, especially evangelical Protestants."[3] Susan E. Isaacs publishing in Christianity Today wrote in May 2018 that the site "lampoon[ed] the faithful across denominations, political affiliations, and age groups".[18] Emma Green in The Atlantic noted of The Babylon Bee's content in October 2021, "Although political humor drives much of The Bee's web traffic, the publication's signature hits focus on what the writers see as shallowness in the evangelical world."[21]
In the years leading up to 2020, the site grew less critical of Trump and more critical of the left and liberalism, though it continued to satirize topics across both parties.[14][20] Emma Goldberg of The New York Times said in 2020 that although Trump was still not off limits as a target for The Babylon Bee, "their "early coverage of Trump, back in 2016, was much more vitriolic than today's. They called him a psychopath, or a megalomaniac. Now they're more bemused by him and the ghoulish ways he's described on the left."[2] In another 2020 New York Times article, Emma Goldberg wrote that the unifying goal of the site was "poking fun at the left", and that "their most popular articles are often those making jokes at the expense of Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden". She wrote that its success was due to finding ways to punch up by "ridiculing every source of authority outside the White House." In the same article, The Babylon Bee's editor-in-chief Kyle Mann summarized how he believed readers of The Babylon Bee considered the site: "this comedy makes fun of everybody, but it's a little harder on the left, and when it makes fun of the right it's not hateful."[14] Parker J. Bach wrote in Slate in June 2021 that the site frequently makes jokes that target marginalized groups, with articles that are "often 'ironically' misogynistic" and "frequently antagonistic toward the LGBTQIA+ community".[22] In an October 2021 interview with The Atlantic, Mann described the site's view of satire and its mission as "mock[ing] people who hold cultural power and ... communicat[ing] truth to a culture that many times does not believe in an objective, universal truth any longer."[21]
The Babylon Bee's hosted Elon Musk for an interview on the site's podcast in December 2021. The episode featured regular hosts Kyle Mann and Ethan Nicolle, who were joined by Seth Dillon. The podcast covered a wide range of topics, ranging from a response to Senator Elizabeth Warren's criticism of how little Musk paid in taxes[23] to scandals at CNN[24] to his thoughts on Christianity.[25]
Jennifer Graham of Deseret News attributed the success of The Babylon Bee in 2021 to "the increasing polarization in America, with Republicans and Democrats clustering in information silos that reflect and affirm their beliefs."[10] Nick Gillespie of Reason praised The Babylon Bee in 2022, saying that "The fact that the Bee is very funny, day in and day out, is almost enough to get me, a lapsed Catholic, to believe in divine intervention, if not a covenant of grace not works."[26]
Controversies[edit]
Snopes[edit]
In March 2018, The Babylon Bee published an article quipping that CNN was using an industrial-sized washing machine to "spin" the news. Two days later, fact-checking website Snopes issued a fact check for the article, rating it "false". Facebook then cited this fact check in a warning message to The Babylon Bee, threatening to limit their content distribution and monetization.[22][34][40] Ford tweeted a screenshot of the warning message, drawing public attention to the matter. Facebook subsequently stated, "There's a difference between false news and satire. This was a mistake and should not have been rated false in our system. It's since been corrected and won't count against the domain in any way."[34]
In July 2019, The Babylon Bee published an article referring to a real-world incident, titled "Georgia Lawmaker Claims Chick-Fil-A Employee Told Her to Go Back to Her Country, Later Clarifies He Actually Said 'My Pleasure'", which Snopes rated "false". They also suggested that the article was deliberately deceptive, rather than genuinely satirical.[17] Ford responded on Twitter, highlighting what he deemed to be problematic wording in the fact-check.[17][45] The Babylon Bee also released a statement, calling the fact-check a "smear" that was "both dishonest and disconcerting".[46] The statement concluded by saying a law firm had been retained to represent The Babylon Bee because "Snopes appears to be actively engaged in an effort to discredit and deplatform us." Snopes later made revisions to the wording of the fact check and added an explanatory editor's note.[47][17] The Babylon Bee's chief executive, Seth Dillon, appeared on Fox News in August 2019 to discuss the incident. He said The Babylon Bee must take the matter seriously "because social networks, which we depend on for our traffic, have relied upon fact-checking sources in the past to determine what's fake news and what isn't. In cases where [Snopes] is calling us fake news and lumping us in with them rather than saying this is satire, that could actually damage us. It could put our business in jeopardy."[17] Snopes' co-founder David Mikkelson acknowledged to The New York Times that their fact-check was poorly written, but denied trying to discredit The Babylon Bee.[17] In an interview with BuzzFeed News, Mikkelson stated, "The question you should be asking is not: 'why is Snopes addressing material from a particular site so often?' But, 'what is it about that site that makes its content trigger the fact-check threshold?'"[40]
In August 2019, Snopes announced a new rating for satire sites called "labeled satire".[48][49] Articles from The Babylon Bee that were previously rated "false" were updated with the new rating.[50] Snopes explains the label: "This rating indicates that a claim is derived from content described by its creator and/or the wider audience as satire. Not all content described by its creator or audience as 'satire' necessarily constitutes satire, and this rating does not make a distinction between 'real' satire and content that may not be effectively recognized or understood as satire despite being labeled as such." Mann objected to this label in an op-ed published in The Wall Street Journal, writing that the label "is meant to suggest that we are somehow making jokes in bad faith".[49]
The New York Times[edit]
In June 2021, Dillon threatened legal action against The New York Times, alleging that the newspaper had defamed The Babylon Bee by referring to it as a "far-right misinformation site" in a March 2021 article. The Times first amended the article, then removed the descriptor and published a clarification about the labeling dispute between Snopes and The Babylon Bee.[51][22]
Twitter ban[edit]
On March 20, 2022,[52] The Babylon Bee's Twitter account was suspended for tweeting "The Babylon Bee's Man of the Year Is Rachel Levine", referencing the U.S. Assistant Secretary for Health, a transgender woman. Twitter said that the post violated its policy on "hateful conduct". Dillon refused to delete the tweet in order to regain access to the account, stating, "They could, of course, delete the tweet themselves. But they won't. It's not enough for them to just wipe it out. They want us to bend the knee and admit that we engaged in hateful conduct."[53][54] On March 23, Twitter rejected an appeal by The Babylon Bee. Dillon told Fox News that The Babylon Bee was "disappointed" by the rejection, adding, "It doesn't change our position. They can delete our joke if they want. They have that power. But we're not bending the knee and doing it for them." Mann was also locked out of his personal account after tweeting, "Maybe they'll let us back into our Twitter account if we throw a few thousand Uighurs in a concentration camp", referring to Twitter's treatment of accounts associated with the Chinese government.[55] Mann has denied allegations of transphobia, saying "We love trans people", and "We don't consider people like that beneath us. You know, the Christian worldview is that everybody has the opportunity to be saved and we can love everybody. I'm no more deserving of God's grace than a transgender person is. But when the culture bows down and starts handing out trophies to people for stuff like this is when we say, 'Hey, wait a minute, you know, we need to protect women in our society as well.'"[26]
In a statement to The Washington Times on April 4, 2022, the day that Elon Musk purchased a 9.2% stake in Twitter, Dillon revealed that Elon Musk had contacted The Babylon Bee shortly after its Twitter account was suspended. "He wanted to confirm that we had, in fact, been suspended from Twitter. He reached out to us before he publicly asked his Twitter followers if they think Twitter 'rigorously adheres' to the principle of free expression. He even mused on that call with us that he might need to buy Twitter." Dillon added, "I wouldn't suggest that The Babylon Bee is the sole reason Musk decided to take action", but "I do think the absurdity of his favorite satire site getting suspended factored into his decision. Perhaps it was the last straw."[52] Musk has repeatedly spoken positively of the Babylon Bee on Twitter.[56] It was later revealed that Musk's ex-wife Talulah Riley had encouraged Musk to purchase Twitter, specifically citing The Babylon Bee's ban.[57][58][59]
On April 14, Musk made a formal offer to buy Twitter, which was accepted on April 25.[60] Musk officially acquired Twitter on October 27, and within hours directed the Trust and Safety team to urgently reinstate The Babylon Bee's account. Musk saw The Babylon Bee's suspension as emblematic of what he viewed as partisan, predominantly liberal, moderation overreach that had prompted him to acquire Twitter.[56] In a conference with lawyer Alex Spiro and then-Trust and Safety head Yoel Roth,[61] Musk described The Babylon Bee's tweet about Levine as "not cool", but said it did not rise to the level of violent threats that should trigger moderation action. Roth objected to reinstating the account without a clear reason, and Musk agreed to wait to restore the account until a new content policy could be published.[56] Roth ultimately quit Twitter on November 10. On November 18, Musk reinstated accounts belonging to The Babylon Bee, Jordan Peterson, and Kathy Griffin.[62][56]
On March 28, 2023, Dillon testified as an expert witness before the House Committee on Energy and Commerce's Subcommittee on Communications and Technology as part of a discussion on regulation.[63]
