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October 3, 2024A federal judge on Wednesday blocked a California measure restricting the use of digitally altered political “deepfakes” just two weeks after Gov. Gavin Newsom signed the bill into law.
The ruling is a blow to a push by the state’s leading Democrats to rein in misleading content on social media ahead of Election Day.
Chris Kohls, known as “Mr Reagan” on X, sued to prevent the state from enforcing the law after posting an AI-generated video of a Harris campaign ad on the social media site. He claimed the video was protected by the First Amendment because it was a parody.
The judge agreed.
“Most of [the law] acts as a hammer instead of a scalpel,” Senior U.S. District Judge John A. Mendez wrote, calling it “a blunt tool hinders humorous expression and unconstitutionally stifles the free and unfettered exchange of ideas.” He carved out an exception for a “not unduly burdensome” portion of the law that requires verbal disclosure of digitally altered content in audio-only recordings.
Theodore Frank, an attorney for Kohls, said in a statement they were “gratified that the district court agreed with our analysis.”
Newsom spokesperson Izzy Gardon said in a statement that the governor’s office was “confident” the courts would uphold California’s ability to regulate deepfakes. He said the law was reasonable, arguing it was in line with a similar measure restricting deepfakes passed in Alabama.
“Deepfakes threaten the integrity of our elections, and these new laws protect our democracy while preserving free speech,” Gardon said. “Satire remains alive and well in California — even for those who miss the punchline.”
Kohls first posted the video in July. The digitally-manipulated spot mimics Harris’ voice and says she’s the “ultimate diversity hire.” It was shared by X owner Elon Musk, sparking a public rebuke from Newsom who vowed to ban the practice. After Newsom inked the law last month, Musk taunted him by reposting the video on X and writing, “The governor of California just made this parody video illegal in violation of the Constitution of the United States.”
“Would be a shame if it went viral.” It now has over 52 million views.
Musk took a victory lap Wednesday after the ruling dropped, writing in an X post: “California’s unconstitutional law infringing on your freedom of speech has been blocked by the court. Yay!”
