California Governor Gavin Newsom signed a tough modern censorship law on Tuesday that bans the production or distribution of AI political videos during the election campaign. Tell me that doesn’t sound like violates the First Amendment:
The modern law, the strictest in the country, comes into force immediately and aims to crack down on misleading content that uses artificial intelligence to create false images or videos.
The law makes it illegal to create and publish deepfakes before Election Day and for 60 days afterward. It also allows courts to stop the distribution of the material and impose civil penalties, according to the Associated Press.
The backlash was not long in coming. Former Republican Senator Melissa Melendez (R) predicted that this bill would have a brief lifespan:
I can’t wait for the court to throw this out 🍿 https://t.co/7HRNrOLLa7
– Senator Melissa Melendez (@senatormelendez) 18 September 2024
A free speech group called The Fire argued that that is not the way to address the problems caused by AI:
By targeting “misleading” political content, California’s modern law threatens satire, parody and other free speech protected by the First Amendment.
AB 2839 prohibits the sharing of “misleading” digitally altered content about candidates for office for any purpose. This means that sharing such content, even to criticize it or suggest that it is fraudulent, could violate the law.
The law also requires that satire and parody be marked, as if a comedian had to preface every joke with an announcement that it is a joke.
This isn’t comical, it’s scary. Whatever concerns there are about AI-generated speech, violating the First Amendment is not the way to address them.
Newsom was triggered by a (hysterical) Kamala Harris campaign ad that Musk retweeted without telling everyone a fact that was completely obvious to every sentient being – it was fraudulent. I wrote about the “ad” when it came out in July:
Friday Funnies: Hilarious parody commercial beautifully exposes Kamala’s monumental mistakes
But Gavin got cranky and couldn’t understand the humor. In fact, he said the measure was a direct response to Musk’s post:
I just signed a bill making this illegal in the state of California.
They will no longer be allowed to knowingly distribute ads or other election communications that contain materially misleading content – including deepfakes. https://t.co/VU4b8RBf6N
— Gavin Newsom (@GavinNewsom) 17 September 2024
What the elegantly coiffed governor may not have taken into account, however, is that Musk is like a hornet’s nest: If you poke him, he’ll come back on you like a swarm. He masterfully mocked the failed governor with several tweets, including one on Tuesday in which he retweeted the original fraudulent Kamala ad (which currently has 55 million views) that had so angered Governor Grumpy:
The Governor of California has just declared this parody video illegal, thereby violating the United States Constitution.
It would be a shame if it went viral. https://t.co/OCBewC4vOb
– Elon Musk (@elonmusk) 18 September 2024
He wasn’t done, though. Remember I said it was like poking a hornet’s nest. You’ll probably get bitten more than once. On Wednesday, the X owner posted another fraudulent video, this time produced by the parody website The Babylon Bee. (Note to Mr. Newsom: The Bee openly states that it is a parody website. I’m sure if they violate this ridiculous modern law, their lawyers will make that very clear.)
It is absolutely brutal – and brilliant:
His best ad ever 😂 https://t.co/NDa85XAY4t
– Elon Musk (@elonmusk) 18 September 2024
I am not a lawyer, nor do I play one on television, and I am not qualified to provide a detailed legal analysis of the law, but I can tell you with certainty that there will be a lot of litigation on this and that it may ultimately be overturned.
The incredible power of AI is a grave problem, and as it gets better and better, sensible laws need to be considered. Still, I’m not comfortable letting people like Gavin Newsom decide what we can and can’t say. If there’s one thing the Democrats have proven beyond a doubt over the last three and a half years, it’s that they are staunch believers in censorship and the suppression of opposing views.
