overview
The Texas Political Memes Crime Bill, officially known as House Bill 366, also known as Dade Phelan’s Political Memes Bill, refers to the viral debate and controversy surrounding Texas House Bill 366, which was created by state lawmakers Dade Phelan in early 2025. House Bill 366 also states that individuals are “not permitted to “intention to affect elections, to intentionally publish, distribute, or broadcast political ads” and “willfully publish, distribute, or broadcast.” The “Texas Memes Bill” was introduced in March 2025, as many online labels were given, and passed in the Texas House of Representatives in late April 2025, sparking discourses on Twitter/X, Reddit and YouTube.
background
On March 10, 2025, the Texas Scorecard revealed the intention of state legislator Dade Phelan to present House Bill 366 to the Texas House of Representatives. The bill states “concerns about the use of altered media, such as images, audio recordings and video recordings created with Generated Artificial Intelligence (AI) technology in political advertising.” The bill also believes that “clear disclosure of political advertising, including altered media, is required, and that depicted images, audio recordings, or video recordings did not occur in reality.”
Texas scorecard journalist @KAMVTV uploads the video on X/Twitter on the same day, explains the bill, and if approved, HB 366 implies that “political memes will be criminal offences and punish them in prison for up to one year.” This video (see below) received over 125,000 views and 2,500 likes in a month.
Former Texas House Speaker Dade Phelan has introduced a bill that will make political memes punishable in prisons for up to one year, a criminal offence. pic.twitter.com/l2lsegogpm
– Kambree (@kamvtv) March 10, 2025
Local Texas News Station KFDM also took up the introduction of the bill in mid-March 2025, publishing the article on March 12th with readers voting from users, with readers voting between 66% and 34% of the time when they agreed to Phelan’s proposed bill.
development
On April 29, 2025, 106 members of the Texas House of Representatives passed HB 366 (Phelan’s Political Memes Bill). The exact details of the bill passed are summarized in Track 50 of the Site Bill, where “legislation applies to office holders, candidates, or political committees who spend more than $100 on political ads or modified media content” (a complete summary shown below).
The bill will add a new section to the Texas Election Code that addresses altered media, particularly political advertising, including media created using artificial intelligence (AI) technology. The Act applies to office holders, candidates, or political committees who spend more than $100 on political advertising or distribute modified media content. Under the proposed law, it is illegal to publish political ads with manipulated images, audio, or video recordings of candidates or office holders that did not occur in reality unless the changes are purely superficial (such as color or brightness adjustments), or unless the advertisement contains clear disclosures that are not realistic in the media. The Texas Election Commission is responsible for establishing specific guidelines for this disclosure, including font, size and color details. Violation in this section is considered a Class A misdemeanor. The bill explicitly protects internet service providers, broadcasters, telecommunications networks and owners of commercial signs from liability for such altered political advertisements announced by others. The new law is set to come into effect on September 1, 2025, providing enough time for political entities to understand and comply with the new requirements.
The vote was shared by X user @Carlos__Turcios, who wrote, “The Texas House passed a bill to criminalize political memes.” This post (see below) has accumulated over 2.3 million views and 11,000 likes in a day.
🚨breaking Texas House has passed a bill to criminalize political memes. House Bill 366 can be locked up for a year, unless there is a government disclaimer in political memes or altered media. Why is Texas doing this? !
Linos is destroying the nation!
Follow: @carlos__turcios pic.twitter.com/hwqwoe4tlh
– Carlos Turcios (@carlos__turcios) April 29, 2025
On April 30th, 2025, the YouTube channel of local Austin, Texas news station KVUE posted a video with some of the reasons why State Rep. Dade Phelan created HB 366, stating that the politicalian was “the subject of political attacks and memes in his most recent recognition campaign,” which refers to a false advertising shared in April 2024 using a deepfake of Phelan in an intimate hug with former US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.
Online response
The controversial Texas political memes bill generated significant backlash and criticism against social media when he passed away in late April 2025, with several people blaming the move as news spread online.
For example, on April 30, 2025, X user @larrybrockjr posted a photo with all voters in the Political Memes Crime Act, writing that “every Republican who voted for Green must need a primary.” The tweet (see below) received over 24,000 views and 775 likes in a few hours.
On the same day, Redditor U/semoultable_flow_9124 posted on R/Conspiracy Subreddit about the HB366 bill, claiming that “ambiguous language could criminalize satire and memes.” This post received around 60 upvotes and 40 comments in a few hours.
