Upholding the First Amendment, a senior US district judge has blocked California’s deepfakes law, AB 2839, which was designed to stop deceptive AI-generated content from impacting election outcomes.
Last month, a parody video creator known as “Mr Reagan” on YouTube and X (formerly Twitter), Christopher Kohls, sued to block the law. He claimed that AB 2839 was unconstitutionally targeting his protected satirical content—including a fake Kamala Harris video that Elon Musk retweeted, agitating California governor Gavin Newsom.
Kohls urged Judge John Mendez to grant a preliminary injunction, arguing that the law was unconstitutionally vague and allowed anyone who watched his parody videos to sue him, claiming they’d been deceived by his content.
