A federal judge ruled Wednesday that California Gov. Gavin Newsom's (D) meme ban is unconstitutional.
Judge John A. Mendez of the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of California wrote that Newsom's AB 2839 “acts as a hammer instead of a scalpel, inhibiting humorous expression and unconstitutionally inhibiting the free and unfettered exchange of ideas.” It functions as a blunt instrument of oppression.” That's very important to the American debate.”
Satirist Christopher Coles, who filed a lawsuit hoping to overturn the ban, argued against X:
write“Victory! The case against Newsom has been won.”
Elon Musk's resharing of one of the Kohl's memes appears to have inspired Democrats to push for a ban.
I wrote“California's unconstitutional law violating free speech rights has been blocked by a court. Hooray!”
background
Coles, known online as Mr. Regan,
share Kamala Harris campaign ad parody on July 26th. The video used many of the visuals present in authentic Harris ads circulating at the time, but read a new script that resembled a convincing AI-generated Harris voice. .
“I, Kamala Harris, am the Democratic presidential candidate because Joe Biden finally revealed his stupidity in the debate,” the AI voice says in the nearly two-minute video. “I was chosen because I'm the ultimate diversity hire. I'm a woman and I'm a person of color. So if you criticize what I say, you're a sexist. , who is also racist.”
“Parody is legal in America.”
The video gained significant attention after Elon Musk
I retweeted ithas received hundreds of millions of views. Of course, Democrats inside and outside the Harris campaign were panicking.
Mia Ehrenberg, a spokeswoman for the Harris campaign, said:
said “We believe the American people want the real freedom, opportunity, and security that Vice President Harris provides, not the manufactured and manipulated lies of Elon Musk and Donald Trump,” the Associated Press said.
Newsom also seemed excited about the parody video's success.
write“Manipulating audio in 'advertisements' like this should be illegal, and I will sign a bill in the coming weeks to make sure it is illegal.”
Mr. Musk retweeted the video in question again.
I wrote “I checked with Professor Sagon Deeznut, a renowned global authority, and he said parody is legal in the United States,” he told Newsom.
What is noteworthy is that such a professor does not exist.
humorless democrats
As promised, Newsom ratified two censorship bills on September 17th.
first,
AB 2839prohibits the distribution of advertisements or other election-related communications that contain “grossly deceptive content” within 120 days and, in some cases, 60 days after an election. rear election.
The term “grossly deceptive” is defined as: Depicted in “audio or visual media that is digitally created or modified and that could be mistakenly perceived by a reasonable person, including but not limited to deepfakes and chatbot output” It must be a genuine record of the content. ”
Democratic Rep. Gail Pellerin, who is responsible for AB 2839, said:
said In a statement, they said: “With less than 50 days until the general election, there is an urgent need to protect against misleading and digitally altered content that could interfere with the election. With the enactment of AB 2839, California is standing up against this bill' manipulative use of deepfake technology to deceive voters. ”
The second bill is
AB2655, The so-called “Protecting Democracies from Deepfake Fraud Act of 2024'' would force social media companies to censor politically protected speech of their users that is deemed “grossly deceptive.''
Like Pellerin, Newsom, who just passed a law banning all local governments from requiring voters to provide identification, characterized the legislative push as a way to strengthen election integrity. Ta.
In response to signing the bill, Mr. Musk said:
doubledreposted the video with the caption, “The Governor of California has made this parody video illegal in violation of the U.S. Constitution. It would be a shame if this went viral.”
Mr. Cole filed a lawsuit and won.
Mr. Cole is represented by the Hamilton Lincoln Law Institute.
filed a lawsuit Within hours of Newsom ratifying the censorship bill, he argued that AB 2839 violates the First and Fourteenth Amendments.
of
complaint AB 2839 states:
- “This imposes an unacceptable and unwarranted restriction on protected speech because it burdens substantially more speech than is necessary to advance the government’s legitimate interest in ensuring fair and free elections.” Configure.”
- “A tense speech based on content, point of view, and speaker”;
- “It is not content-neutral because it only targets election-related speech generated by AI.”
- “If the content includes a disclaimer, it is not speaker-neutral because it exempts actual candidates from using AI to their advantage.” and
- “It does not include an exception for parody or satire.”
judge mendez
granted Cole on Wednesday issued a preliminary injunction against the ban. “AB 2839 fails constitutional review because the law does not use the most restrictive means available to advance the nation's interests.”
“A powerful reaffirmation of the value of free speech in a world of new technology.”
The justices agreed that counter-speech was less restrictive than outright censorship, saying that lawmakers' fears of a digitally manipulated media environment were a result of “long-standing criticism, parody, and parody protected by the First Amendment. He stressed that it does not give him “unrestricted license to enforce the tradition of satire.”
Mendez, who expressed sensitivity to the risks posed by AI and deepfakes, added that AB 2839 “brings the strict adjustments and least restrictive alternatives that content-based laws require under intense scrutiny.” It pointed out that it is unconstitutional because it lacks.
Adam Shulman, senior attorney at Hamilton Lincoln Law Institute, said:
called The ruling is a “powerful reaffirmation of the value of free speech in a world of new technology.”
Michael Shellenberger, CBR Chair of Politics, Censorship, and Free Speech at UT Austin, said:
said Commenting on the ruling, he said, “Free speech, not censorship, is the answer to bad information. A great repudiation of totalitarians @GavinNewsom @KamalaHarris and @Tim_Walz.”
Mr. Musk congratulated Mr. Cole.
write“Score 1 for the people's right to free speech.”
Newsom spokesperson Izzy Gurdon
said In a statement to Politico, the governor's office said it is “confident” that courts will ultimately uphold the state's ability to regulate deepfakes.
“Deepfakes threaten the integrity of elections, and these new laws protect democracy while preserving free speech,” Gardon said. “Satire is still alive and well in California, even for those who miss the punchline.”
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