Elon Musk seems thrilled that non-consensual deepfakes are still legal in California

A judge blocked a bill seeking to ban the AI videos it would "bulldoze over the longstanding tradition of critique, parody, and satire protected by the First Amendment."

By Emma Keates | October 3, 2024 | 4:02pm

Photo: Marc Piasecki/Getty Images

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Elon Musk seems thrilled that non-consensual deepfakes are still legal in California

In our good and functional country, manipulating a presidential candidate’s voice to make it sound like they’re claiming to be a “deep state puppet” and “the ultimate diversity hire” is still legally protected as “satire.” It wasn’t just legalized, or anything groundbreaking like that. Instead, California governor Gavin Newsom tried to go through the proper channels to curtail the practice, and a federal judge said “no way” when the bill landed on his desk—which is worse, somehow, if you ask this writer.

Newsom signed the bill (AB2839) just two weeks ago, in response a deepfake “ad” in which a voice that sounds a whole lot like Kamala Harris’ thanks Joe Biden for “finally expos[ing] his senility at the debate” and a whole bunch of other vile stuff. We’re not embedding the video into this story, but we’ll give you one guess who posted it in the first place. No, it wasn’t some fringe MAGA fanatic; it was Elon Musk himself, who captioned it with an irksome “This is amazing [crying laughing face emoji].”

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“Manipulating a voice in an ‘ad’ like this one should be illegal,” Newsom posted in response to the video, which as of this writing has over 136 million views on the platform. “I’ll be signing a bill in a matter of weeks to make sure it is.”

That bill, which was just shot down, already asked for less than it probably could (and should) have. Instead of making deepfakes illegal altogether, AB2839 sought to prohibit the “distribution of materially deceptive audio or visual media of a candidate” within two months of an election, unless the video was posted with a clear AI disclosure, according to TheWrap.

But even this watered down response was too much for U.S. District Judge John A. Mendez, who decried the legislation as a “blunt tool that hinders humorous expression and unconstitutionally stifles the free and unfettered exchange of ideas.” Nevermind the fact that the leader of an influential platform is committing what seems like pretty clear election interference; in this case, the guy trying to stop that from happening is in the wrong. Cool! The bill would give legislators “unbridled license to bulldoze over the longstanding tradition of critique, parody, and satire protected by the First Amendment,” Mendez declared.

At least Elon Musk is happy. “California’s unconstitutional law infringing on your freedom of speech has been blocked by the court,” he posted in response to the ruling that will allow him to continue to post incredibly misleading election information to an audience of millions. “Yay!”

All in all, an undeniable win for free speech, which Musk always supports no matter who it benefits. Yay.