Gavin Newsom Vows to Sue Elon Musk Over Illegal Memes and Deepfakes That Hurt Democracy

Gavin Newsom, the governor of California, recently passed legislation outlawing digitally modified political "deepfakes" in their entirety. His actions followed Elon Musk's dissemination of a manipulated video of Vice President Kamala Harris. In addition, Newsom vowed to sue the Tesla CEO for allegedly using deepfakes and memes that 'hurt democracy.' "I think Mr. Musk has missed the punchline, parody is still alive and well in California but deepfakes and manipulation of elections?" Newsom said. "That hurts democracy and the integrity of the system and trust and we believe in truth and trust and we believe this law is sound and will be upheld in court," he said while also referring to Musk as a 'conservative blogger'. 

"The law asserts that many can seek injunction relief. I just signed the law and I haven't had a chance to review [any] specific lawsuit involving a conservative blogger," Newsom added. The SpaceX founder responded to the governor's threat with a simple: "Amazing" while reposting the tweet. 

As per the Daily Mail, the new regulation, which goes into effect right now, forbids the creation and publication of deepfakes about elections 60 days after Election Day and 120 days prior to Election Day. Additionally, it gives judges the authority to halt the materials' distribution and impose civil penalties.

"Safeguarding the integrity of elections is essential to democracy, and 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," Newsom said in a statement. "These measures will help to combat the harmful use of deepfakes in political ads and other content, one of several areas in which the state is being proactive to foster transparent and trustworthy AI." 

"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," he tweeted. It follows his July 29th tweet which stated, "Manipulating a voice in an “ad” like this one should be illegal. I’ll be signing a bill in a matter of weeks to make sure it is." 

Musk responded with mockery, "You’re not gonna believe this, but @GavinNewsom just announced that he signed a LAW to make parody illegal, based on this video," along with laugh emojis on X. The manipulated campaign ad showcased Harris' voice. Additionally, Musk posted stating, "They are actually trying to make posting memes illegal." "Vote them out."

The measure would grant the Federal Election Commission the authority to control artificial intelligence (AI) in elections in the same manner that it has controlled other forms of political deception for many years. "With fewer than 50 days until the general election, there is an urgent need to protect against misleading, digitally-altered content that can interfere with the election," Gail Pellerin, an assembly member and the author of the legislation outlawing election deepfakes, stated in a statement."California is taking a stand against the manipulative use of deepfake technology to deceive voters."