A federal judge recently blocked a California law aiming to restrict the use of digitally altered political deepfakes shortly after Gov. Gavin Newsom signed the bill into law.
The decision came as a blow to California’s leading Democrats who had been pushing to combat misleading content on social media platforms in the lead-up to the upcoming elections.
The big picture: Chris Kohls filed a lawsuit to prevent the enforcement of the law after sharing an AI-generated video of a Harris campaign ad on social media, claiming that it was a parody and thus protected by the First Amendment.
- Senior US District Judge John A. Mendez criticized the law, describing it as a blunt tool that hinders humorous expression and infringes on the free exchange of ideas. However, an exception was made for the part of the law requiring verbal disclosure of digitally altered content in audio-only recordings.
- Senior U.S. District Judge John Mendez called the law “a blunt tool [that] hinders humorous expression and unconstitutionally stifles the free and unfettered exchange of ideas.”
The backstory: The issue originated when Kohls posted a digitally manipulated video mimicking Kamala Harris’ voice, which was shared by Elon Musk on the social media platform X.
- This led to a public confrontation between Musk and Newsom, with Musk taunting the governor after the law was signed.
