Babylon Bee Gets Last Laugh, Federal Judge Finds CA ‘Deepfake ‘ Law Unconstitutional

Babylon Bee, a satirical political website, is enjoying a favorable federal court decision in their case challenging Assembly Bill 2839, a “disinformation and deepfake” law passed by the California legislature and signed by Governor Gavin Newsom. The law specifically prohibited AI-generated political communications 120 days before an election.

The controversial, satirical swipe at Newsom was released in September 2024, entitled, “Official Gavin Newsom Election Ad.”

WATCH:

After its release, Governor Newsom responded to Babylon Bee’s CEO Seth Dillion, stating, “I just signed a bill to make this illegal in the state of California. You can no longer knowingly distribute an ad or other election communications that contain materially deceptive content — including deepfakes.”

Despite Governor Newsom’s flex, Senior U.S. District Judge John Mendez ruled that AB 2839 was censorship through legislative fiat.

In his Friday decision, Judge Mendez wrote, “To be sure, deepfakes and artificially manipulated media arguably pose significant risks to electoral integrity, but the challenges launched by digital content on a global scale cannot be quashed through censorship or legislative fiat.”

“Just as the government may not dictate the canon of comedy, California cannot preemptively sterilize political content,” Judge Mendez said.

The Washington Times reports:

Judge Mendez also entered a judgment on Friday against Assembly Bill 2655, which requires online platforms to remove such content.

He previously ruled that the law violated Section 230 of the federal Communications Decency Act, which grants immunity to online platforms from liability over third-party content. The law was challenged by platforms X and Rumble.

California Gov. Gavin Newsom signed the two measures in September 2024, saying that “it’s critical that we ensure AI is not deployed to undermine the public’s trust through disinformation — especially in today’s fraught political climate.”

After the favorable ruling, Dillion issued the following statement: “Our job is hard enough when our jokes keep coming true, as if they were prophecies. But it becomes significantly more difficult when self-serving politicians abuse their power to try to control public discourse and clamp down on comedy. We’re pleased the court recognized the First Amendment secures our right to tell jokes, even ones the government doesn’t like.”