Federal Judge Halts California’s New Anti-Deepfakes Law—Musk Says Its ‘Score One’ For Free Speech

Topline

A federal judge paused a new California state law that cracked down on the use of AI-generated deepfakes targeting political candidates in the run-up to an election, weeks after the creator of an AI-altered campaign video mocking Kamala Harris—which Elon Musk boosted—sued to block the legislation.

California Gov. Gavin Newsom holds up the anti deepfake legislation onstage Salesforce’s Dreamforce … [+] event in September.

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Key Facts

U.S. District Judge John A. Mendez acknowledged the “risks posed by artificial intelligence and deepfakes are significant”, but granted a preliminary injunction against the law stating that it likely violates the First Amendment.

In his ruling, the judge wrote that fear of deepfakes may be justified, but “this fear does not give legislators unbridled license to bulldoze over the longstanding tradition of critique, parody, and satire protected by the First Amendment.”

Mendez said the law “acts as a hammer instead of a scalpel, serving as a blunt tool that hinders humorous expression and unconstitutionally stifles the free unfettered exchange of ideas.”

The judge added that the plaintiffs make a persuasive argument that “counter speech” is a less restrictive alternative to prohibiting the deepfakes “no matter how offensive or inappropriate someone may find them.”

Christopher Kohls, the X user who filed the lawsuit, reacted to the ruling by tweeting “VICTORY! Lawsuit against Newsom has been won.”

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Key Background

Last month, California Gov. Gavin Newsom signed three laws targeting election-related deepfake images and videos. The law temporarily blocked by Mendez Wednesday was Assembly Bill 2839, which made it illegal to distribute “materially deceptive audio or visual media of a candidate” 120 days before an election and in some cases, 60 days after. The law also allowed targeted candidates to seek a court order to pull down any deepfake ads and also sue the person who distributed them—although parody and satire deepfakes disclosed as such were exempted. The two other laws, AB 2655 and AB 2355, are focused on online platforms and campaign groups’ handling of such content respectively. However, unlike AB 2839, they will go into effect next year.

Crucial Quote

The judge said: “While California has a valid interest in protecting the integrity and reliability of the electoral process, AB 2839 is unconstitutional because it lacks the narrow tailoring and least restrictive alternative that a content-based law requires under strict scrutiny.”

Tangent

Shortly after the court’s ruling, Elon Musk tweeted, “California’s unconstitutional law infringing on your freedom of speech has been blocked by the court.” Musk also congratulated Kohls, saying: “Score one for the people’s right to free speech.” In July, Musk—who has endorsed former President Donald Trump’s candidacy for the White House—boosted Kohls’ deepfake campaign video, which used AI-generated audio clips to mimic Harris’ voice and described her as the “ultimate diversity hire” and a “deep state puppet.” Musk’s post promoting the video garnered more than 135 million views on X. The post drew an immediate reaction from Newsom, who vowed to sign legislation to crack down on political deepfakes, prompting a mocking response from Musk saying: “parody is legal in America.” After Newsom passed the laws, Musk reshared the video and wrote: “You’re not gonna believe this, but Gavin Newsom, just announced that he signed a LAW to make parody illegal, based on this video.”