A federal judge just blocked the new ‘deepfakes’ law in California on the basis that it violates the first amendment right to free speech.
The law was California’s latest attempt at restricting election misinformation in the name of “materially deceptive” deepfakes.
Here’s more from Politico:
A 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.”
You can be sure Newsom and his socialist comrades will appeal the ruling to the 9th Circuit, which means this law could end up in the Supreme Court given how liberal the 9th Circuit has been.
The judge in this case was appointed by George W. Bush, in case you were wondering.
