Elon Musk’s X files suit against California election deepfake law

November 16, 2024

By KAREN VELIE

Elon Musk’s X filed a lawsuit Thursday in federal court against a new California law regarding AI-generated, deceptive election content, claiming that the law is an unconstitutional insult to free speech.

The suit argues the law, “Defending Democracy From Deepfake Deception Act of 2024,” will result in widespread censorship of political speech. The law requires large online platforms to remove content deemed “materially deceptive.”

The online platform must remove the content related to elections within 72 hours of a report. The law also provides a path for candidates or officials to seek relief in the courts for noncompliance.

“AB 2655  has the effect of impermissibly replacing the judgments of covered platforms about what content belongs on their platforms with the judgments of the state,” according to the lawsuit. “Worse yet, AB 2655 creates an enforcement system that incentivizes covered platforms to err on the side of removing and/or labeling any content that presents even a close call as to whether it is “materially deceptive” and otherwise meets the statute’s requirements. This system will inevitably result in the censorship of wide swaths of valuable political speech and commentary. . .”

Musk’s suit asks the court to declare that “AB 2655 violates the First Amendment of the United States Constitution and Article I, Section 2, of the California Constitution,” for an injunction against enforcement of AB 2655, and for an award of court costs and patroness fees.