Gov. Newsom Signs Unconstitutional ‘Deepfake’ Bill Making Humor in California Illegal

Newsom had such a problem with Musk’s retweeting a parody video created by “Mr. Reagan” (Kohls), he threatened him with legislation to make parody videos illegal.In the video, Kamala Harris calls herself “the ultimate diversity hire,” among other hilarious lines she actually said – “The significance of the passage of time…,” “The United States shares a very important alliance, which is an alliance with the Republic of North Korea. It is an alliance which is strong and enduring…”.

Elon Musk retweeted the video saying, “I checked with renowned world authority, Professor Suggon Deeznutz, and he said parody is legal in America.”

Gavin’s real problem with Elon Musk is that Musk left the state – he doesn’t appreciate Newsom’s highest-in-the-nation taxes, business killing regulations, or the governor’s lack of appreciation for Musk’s businesses.

Notably, the attorneys confirm that political parody is in fact protected by the First Amendment.

The HILLI attorneys detail the bills:

AB 2655 enlists social media companies to censor their users’ protected political speech that is created using Generative AI tools to spoof the likeness of political candidates running for office. It imposes a reporting and take-down regime on large online platforms like YouTube and X (where Kohls posts his content) for “deceptive content,” which goes into effect January 1.

AB 2839 goes into effect immediately and purports to ban all election communication that uses  artificial intelligence (AI) to portray candidates for office as “doing or saying something that the candidate did not do or say.” While the title of the bill refers to “advertisements,” in fact it covers all “election communication,” including political and satire, which are protected under core First Amendment principles.

AB 2839 contains no exception for satire and parody—the legislature removed this exception in coordination with Newsom’s office, and replaced them with a labelling requirement that would require a disclaimer so large it could not even fit on Kohls videos.

Ouch.

“The lawsuit seeks a judgment that the bills are unconstitutional and an injunction preventing its enforcement, so that Mr. Kohls may be able to share his content without fear of censorship or legal retaliation,” Kohl’s attorneys say.

As funny as the parodies are, this is a very serious issue – Newsom really does want to take away freedom of speech and punish people for thoughts he disagrees with, as well as opposing political ideology.

“Because the bills use undefined and vague statutory language, they grant California broad discretion to determine what constitutes impermissible ‘materially deceptive,’ the HILLI attorneys said. “This creates a chilling effect on free speech, particularly for political commentators like Kohls, who use satire to critique public figures, and rely on social media viewership for their livelihood. Mr. Kohls’ satire videos, which have garnered millions of views, are precisely the kind of speech that the First Amendment was designed to protect. AB 2655 and AB 2839 undermine the democratic processes it purports to safeguard.”

“This is a Communist speaking!” Xi Van Fleet tweeted. “A Communist totalitarian regime has zero tolerance for free speech.”

She ought to know – as her X bio says, “Chinese by birth; American by choice. Survivor of Mao’s Cultural Revolution. Defender of liberty.”And she wrote the book on Mao’s America.