A federal court judge has put a preliminary injunction over a two-week-old California law that effectively bans election deepfakes. The law — AB 2839 — allowed any person to sue for damages over AI deepfakes if the perpetrator’s post resembles a political candidate within 120 days of an election and up to 60 days after.

A federal judge has blocked a brand new California law that prohibits the distribution of deceptive ads and elections-related communications, including deepfakes.

A federal judge has blocked a new California law allowing any person to sue for damages over election deepfakes.

Last month, a parody video creator known as "Mr Reagan" on YouTube and X (formerly Twitter), Christopher Kohls, sued to block the law. He claimed that AB 2839 was unconstitutionally targeting his protected satirical content—including a fake Kamala Harris video that Elon Musk retweeted, agitating California governor Gavin Newsom.

The war over deepfakes and campaigns is heating up, and the fakers just won an early victory after a federal judge ruled against California’s wide-ranging law that tried to ban manipulated materials about politicians in the months ahead of an election.

A California federal judge temporarily blocked a law, blasted by Elon Musk, that bans AI-generated election “deepfakes” in the state.

The judge ruled that one aspect of Assembly Bill 2839 did pass muster, but he enjoined the remainder of the law.