California Judge Blocks New Law Against AI-Generated Election Deepfakes

According to the judge's ruling, YouTube videos, Facebook posts, and tweets by X are protected under the First Amendment.

California AI Regulation Halted

A recent California law aimed at combating the spread of election-related AI deepfakes was suspended just one month prior to the U.S. presidential elections. Judge John Mendez issued a preliminary injunction, preventing the state’s Attorney General from enforcing AB 2839.

Legislation Against Deepfakes

California Governor Gavin Newsom had enacted this legislation, among other AI-focused measures, last September. He tweeted a screenshot of a story about Elon Musk sharing a deepfake of Vice President Kamala Harris without labeling it as fake, stating, “I just signed a bill making this illegal in California”.

AB 2839 holds anyone accountable who disseminates AI deepfakes featuring political candidates if posted within 120 days before an election in the state. Anyone seeing these deepfakes can sue the distributor. A judge may order the removal of the manipulated media to avoid financial penalties.

First Amendment Protection

Following the law’s enactment, Christopher Kohls, the original video’s creator, filed a lawsuit to block it, claiming the video was satirical and thus protected by the First Amendment.

Judge Mendez sided with Kohls, stating in his ruling that AB 2839 fails a strict scrutiny test and is not narrowly tailored. He also noted that the law’s disclosure requirements are overly burdensome. “Almost any digitally altered content, when left to the discretion of an arbitrary individual on the internet, could be deemed harmful”, he wrote.

Mendez compared YouTube videos, Facebook posts, and tweets to newspaper ads and political cartoons, stating that the First Amendment “protects an individual’s right to express, regardless of the new mediums these critiques may take”. As this is only a preliminary injunction, the law might be unblocked in the future, though it is unlikely to happen in time for this year’s presidential elections.