CAN’T FAKE THIS

Gavin Newsom Trumps Elon Musk With New California Deepfake Law

The California governor delivered on his promise to ban political deepfakes in his state after Musk defended a Vice President Kamala Harris deepfake as “parody.”

California Gov. Gavin Newsom on Tuesday signed a restrictive law on the use of digitally altered political photos and videos, also known as deepfakes, in the Golden State. Newsom signed the legislation, which will take effect before the November election, onstage at this year’s Dreamforce conference. He also signed two more laws related to artificial intelligence: Law AB 2655 requires online platforms to “block the posting of materially deceptive content related to elections in California” and label content as “inauthentic, fake, or false,” with exemption for parody and satire. Law AB 2839 prohibits “knowingly distributing an advertisement or other election communication” that contains deceptive content within a period of 120 days before an election and in some cases 60 days after. The laws made good on Newsom’s July promise to combat altered political messages after billionaire Elon Musk retweeted a deepfake of Vice President Kamala Harris and called it “parody.” The laws quickly drew the ire of Musk, who claimed in a series of tweets that Newsom “just announced that he signed a LAW to make parody illegal.”

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Zachary FolkFreelance Reporter

Mathew MurphyEditor

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