Social platform X last week sued to block a California law targeting artificial intelligence (AI)-generated political deepfakes, months after Elon Musk — its owner and world’s richest person — claimed the law would make “parody illegal.”
In its lawsuit, the company claimed the Defending Democracy from Deepfake Deception Act, which would go into effect next year, violates the First Amendment and would “result in the censorship of wide swaths of valuable political speech.”
“There is a long history of the strongest of First Amendment protections for speech critical of government officials and candidates for public office that includes tolerance for potentially false speech made in the context of such criticisms,” according to the complaint, filed in federal court in Sacramento, Calif., on Thursday.
The platform said it has policies in place to moderate “synthetic” or “manipulated media” that might “deceive or confuse…and lead to harm.” However, X includes exceptions for memes or satire, illustrations and cartoons, commentary, and counter speech.
In September, California Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom signed Assembly Bill 2655, one of three state bills designed to crack down on AI election deepfakes. The law requires large online platforms like X to block certain election-related deepfake content and label other such content as “inauthentic, fake, or false” 120 days before and after an election in the state.
Newsom’s office countered the three deepfake laws do not prohibit satire and parodies, but require the disclosure of the use of AI to be displayed.
X’s bid to block the law could be a litmus test amid a wave of legislation to tamp down on AI-powered election content. More than half of the 50 states have passed or are mulling such bills, according to an Axios report.
State leaders and AI experts are concerned the proliferation of deepfake videos and audio clips, particularly on X, has lead to a flood of disinformation to influence or deceive voters. One such video clip, shared on social media by Musk, who initially did not note it was a parody, used an AI voice-cloning tool to mimic the voice of Vice President Kamala Harris.
In the clip, the fake Harris voice intones: “I, Kamala Harris, am your Democrat candidate for president because Joe Biden finally exposed his senility at the debate.” The clip goes on to claim Harris is a “diversity hire” who doesn’t know “the first thing about running the country.” The video contained “Harris for President” branding, andused authentic past clips of Harris.
