A federal judge has blocked a California law banning political deepfakes after critics said it restricted free speech. The judge made this decision after The Babylon Bee, a conservative Christian satire website, and others filed a lawsuit arguing that the law violated free speech rights.
In September 2024, California Gov. Gavin Newsom signed two bills into law: Assembly Bill 2839 and Assembly Bill 2655. Both laws aimed to restrict the creation and use of deepfake content featuring political figures, especially during election periods, to prevent misinformation.
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Judge sides with satire site in First Amendment case
U.S. District Judge John Mendez sided with The Babylon Bee and decided that the California laws violate the First Amendment.
Mendez ruled that California’s AB 2839 unlawfully censors speech before any actual harm occurs, lacks precedent under the First Amendment, and could have been narrowly tailored to target only false speech causing real, legal harm.
“To be sure, deepfakes and artificially manipulated media arguably pose significant risks to electoral integrity,” Mendez wrote, “but the challenges launched by digital content on a global scale cannot be quashed through censorship or legislative fiat.”
The decision goes on to say, “Rather than targeting content that procures tangible harms or materially benefits a speaker, AB 2839 attempts to stifle speech before it occurs or actually harms anyone as long as it is ‘reasonably likely’ to do so and it allows almost anyone to act as a censorship czar.”
Legal group, free speech issues at center of ruling
The Babylon Bee and the other plaintiffs in the case were represented by Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF), a conservative legal organization.
“Our job is hard enough when our jokes keep coming true, as if they were prophecies,” The Babylon Bee’s CEO Seth Dillon said in a statement. “But it becomes significantly more difficult when self-serving politicians abuse their power to try to control public discourse and clamp down on comedy. We’re pleased the court recognized the First Amendment secures our right to tell jokes, even ones the government doesn’t like.”
In July 2024, after Newsom saw a parody video of Vice President Kamala Harris and said it “should be illegal,” the California Legislature quickly passed two bills aimed at restricting such content. Newsom signed those bills into law on Sept. 17, 2024.
