Why Elon Musk’s X Is Against California’s Law Targeting Deepfakes, Deceptive Election Content

Elon Musk-owned X  has sued a California law that targets election-related deepfakes on social media stating that it "unconstitutionally stifles the free unfettered exchange of ideas."

This comes months after the tech billionaire attacked Governor Gavin Newsom for signing the Defending Democracy From Deepfake Deception Act of 2024 and claimed that it would make “parody illegal.”

In a filing, X has argued before the Eastern District of California federal court that the Act, also known as Assembly Bill 2655, violates the First Amendment and can “result in the censorship of wide swaths of valuable political speech,” Forbes reported.

As per the law, the online platforms, including X, are required to block specific election-related deepfake content 120 days before and after the polls, besides labelling other such content as “inauthentic, fake, or false”.

Musk-owned company has alleged that the said law counters the First Amendment's “staunch protection” of political speech, which includes the “use of exaggerated or unfavourable visual means to undermine and combat political opponents.”

Further, it argues that the Act incentivises social media platforms to “err significantly on the side of censorship” due to a lack of consequence for improperly taking down content that does not violate it.

It also noted that it has internal policies to moderate “synthetic” or “manipulated media” which may “deceive or confuse" people, but it includes exceptions for memes or satire.

"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," read the lawsuit.

In September this year, the Governor of California signed three laws that targeted all the election-related deepfake videos and images on social media.

The lawsuit by X comes weeks after a preliminary injunction was issued against a related measure, Assembly Bill 2839, by a California federal judge, thereby allowing any person to sue for damages over election deepfakes. 

It came after an individual, who creates parody videos, including an altered audio of US Vice President Kamala Harris, filed a suit and claimed free speech censorship. The person stated that the law will allow anyone to take legal action over content they don't like.