From today's decision by Judge John Mendez (E.D. Cal.) in Kohls v. Bonta:
Plaintiff Christopher Kohls (aka "Mr. Reagan") is an individual who creates digital content about political figures. His videos contain demonstrably false information that include sounds or visuals that are significantly edited or digitally generated using artificial intelligence …. Plaintiff's videos are considered by him to be parody or satire. In response to videos posted by Plaintiff parodying presidential candidate Kamala Harris and other AI generated "deepfakes," the California legislature enacted AB 2839. AB 2839, according to Plaintiff, would allow any political candidate, election official, the Secretary of State, and everyone who sees his AI-generated videos to sue him for damages and injunctive relief during an election period which runs 120 days before an election to 60 days after an election….
AB 2839 does not pass constitutional scrutiny because the law does not use the least restrictive means available for advancing the State's interest here. As Plaintiffs persuasively argue, counter speech is a less restrictive alternative to prohibiting videos such as those posted by Plaintiff, no matter how offensive or inappropriate someone may find them. "'Especially as to political speech, counter speech is the tried and true buffer and elixir,' not speech restriction." …
The court began by concluding that AB 2839 doesn't fall within the existing defamation exception to First Amendment protection, and isn't subject to any other doctrine that categorically lowers protection for false statements in election campaigns:
