A new lawsuit takes aim at a Minnesota law banning the "use of deep fake technology to influence an election." The measure—enacted in 2023 and amended this year—makes it a crime to share AI-generated content if a person "knows or acts with reckless disregard about whether the item being disseminated is a deep fake" and the sharing is done without the depicted individual's consent, intended to "injure a candidate or influence the result of an election," and either within 90 days before a political party nominating convention or after the start of the absentee voting period prior to a presidential nomination primary, any state or local primary, or a general election.
Christopher Kohls, a content creator who goes by Mr. Reagan, and by Minnesota state Rep. Mary Franson (R–District 12B) argue that the law is an "impermissible and unreasonable restriction of protected speech."
