AI doesn’t abolish the government’s right to roast, says a judge blocking California’s deepfake law

Upholding the First Amendment, a top US district judge has blocked California’s deepfakes law AB 2839, which was intended to prevent misleading AI-generated content from influencing election results.

Last month, Christopher Kohls, a parody video artist known on YouTube and X (formerly Twitter) as “Mr. Reagan” is known for blocking the law. He claimed that AB 2839 unconstitutionally targeted his protected satirical content — including a fake video of Kamala Harris retweeting Elon Musk, angering California Gov. Gavin Newsom.

Kohls asked Judge John Mendez to issue a preliminary injunction, arguing that the law is unconstitutional and allows anyone who watches his parody videos to sue him on the grounds that they were deceived by his content.

In an order Wednesday, Mendez granted the injunction, agreeing with Kohl’s that “the law violates his right to free speech and is unconstitutionally vague.” Although the judge recognized that the government has a legitimate interest in protecting election integrity, almost no part of the deepfakes law survives strict constitutional scrutiny, Mendez said, suggesting that the law is inseverable and cannot be saved.

Instead of trying to “enforce silence,” California officials would be better off combating deepfakes with “more talk,” Mendez said. “Especially when it comes to political speech, counter-speech is the proven buffer and elixir, not a restriction on speech.”

“Victory!” Kohls posted on X: “Lawsuit against Newsom has been won.”

As expected, Musk celebrated the victory and replied: “Congratulations! Point one for the people’s right to freedom of expression.”

Kohls was visibly pleased by this recognition, who replied: “Thank you very much, sir. At some point we should go to war together again.”

Jeff Kosseff, a First Amendment scholar and senior fellow at the nonpartisan think tank The Future of Free Speech, praised the ruling as an important precedent for AI-generated online content.