{"id":445064,"date":"2026-08-27T12:02:20","date_gmt":"2026-08-27T12:02:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/445064\/"},"modified":"2026-08-27T12:02:20","modified_gmt":"2026-08-27T12:02:20","slug":"nick-shirley-california-gop-promise-fight-against-censorship-law","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/445064\/","title":{"rendered":"Nick Shirley, California GOP promise fight against ‘censorship’ law"},"content":{"rendered":"

Youtuber Nick Shirley and California Republicans are threatening legal action after Gov. Gavin Newsom <\/a>(D) signed a law that critics claim would block people from investigating fraud, potentially violating free speech rights. <\/p>\n

At least a hundred people attended a rally Wednesday at the west steps of the state capitol in Sacramento to decry the Republican-nicknamed \u201cStop Nick Shirley Act,\u201d which takes effect Oct. 1, 2027.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey\u2019re quite literally openly violating our First Amendment, and they see no problem with it,\u201d Shirley told supporters. \u201cIt\u2019s a complete violation of the First Amendment contract.\u201d<\/p>\n

Nick Shirley, Senator Tony Strickland and Michael Gates protest the signing of the so-called \u201cStop Nick Shirley Act.\u201d Nathan Weyland for CA Post<\/p>\n

Assembly Bill 2624<\/a>\u00a0will outlaw sharing the photo or personal data of an immigrant services provider on the internet for harassment or violent purposes. Under the law, an immigrant services provider could bring a claim in court seeking up to at least $4,000 in damages from those who violate the law. <\/p>\n

Brad Dacus, an attorney at the Pacific Justice Institute, said that he and others will sue if the state tries to use the law against Shirley or anyone investigating fraud.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe pledge to defend every single one of you, and everyone like Nick, who is challenged in court from zealous prosecutors trying to shut you down,\u201d Dacus said. \u201cThey will not get away with it. We will stand behind him without charge.\u201d<\/p>\n

GOP critics vowed to block the law if California tries to enforce it. Nathan Weyland for CA Post<\/p>\n

Democratic Assemblywoman Mia Bonta introduced the bill in February after reports of increased threats and harassment against immigration service providers.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur immigrant service providers are living in fear because of extremists looking to demonize the work that they do and the populations they serve,\u201d Bonta said recently. \u201cThat is an intolerable consequence of the anti-immigrant rhetoric that exists right now.\u201d<\/p>\n

But critics have blasted the measure<\/a> as a way to intimidate people trying to shine light on bad behavior, and questioned whether it was inspired by Shirley \u2014 who has confronted service providers about alleged fraud on video. <\/p>\n

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Assemblymember Carl DeMaio (R) suggested that the law could shield providers like the\u00a0ones Shirley investigated in Minnesota<\/a>\u00a0from scrutiny. <\/p>\n

The language of Bonta\u2019s law brings up First Amendment questions, according to Shirley\u2019s supporters.<\/p>\n

Governor Gavin Newsom signed Assembly Bill 2624 this month. Anadolu via Getty Images<\/p>\n

Republican candidates for office also spoke at the event, pledging to help challenge the law if elected. There were a few counter-protestors who made noise on the periphery of the event.<\/p>\n

Bonta has insisted the law does not target journalists. <\/p>\n

But at the rally, Shirley and others stirred up skepticism over the fact Bonta is the wife of California Attorney General Rob Bonta, a Democrat who has made tackling fraud a priority for his office<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cEvery time I go confront these politicians, they start running. Like it\u2019s the first time they ran in years,\u201d Shirley said to laughter in the audience.<\/p>\n

Shirley has taken particular interest in the new law, making repeated stops at Sacramento<\/a> to question lawmakers about the bill. In his interaction with Assemblymember Bonta, she repeatedly dismissed him for spreading \u201cmisinformation.\u201d<\/p>\n

Most recently, an incident went viral where a Democratic chief of staff barged into a Shirley interview<\/a> to hold a flyer claiming Shirley had a small penis, resulting in a verbal spat.<\/p>\n

Shirley on Wednesday teased that he would have more to announce about the law.<\/p>\n

\u201cUnfortunately for him, he just started this battle that we\u2019re bringing upon him,\u201d Shirley said of Gov. Newsom signing the law.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Youtuber Nick Shirley and California Republicans are threatening legal action after Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) signed a law…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":445065,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[7,9,8,2872,53870,13,1748,2684,3586,2278],"class_list":["post-445064","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-california","tag-california","tag-california-headlines","tag-california-news","tag-immigrants","tag-journalists","tag-politics","tag-republicans","tag-transparency","tag-us-news","tag-youtube"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/445064","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=445064"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/445064\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/445065"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=445064"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=445064"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=445064"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}