Elon Musk's X sues Minnesota to stop law banning 'deepfakes' generated by AI

It's been two years since Minnesota enacted a law to prevent the use of AI-generated deepfakes

during an election. Now, a social media giant is challenging the law in federal court for

infringing on its First Amendment rights. Elon Musk's Platform X filed a lawsuit Wednesday

asking a judge to block the enforcement of the statute. Since taking ownership of Twitter in

In 2022, Musk has described himself as a free speech absolutist. Once he changed the name to X, he also got rid of the company's previous content moderation policies

Court documents explain their argument, saying the law violates the first and 14th amendments of the United States Constitution

because its requirements are so vague and unintelligible that social media platforms cannot understand what the statute permits and what it prohibits

which will lead to blanket censorship, including a fully protected core political speech

In 2023, Minnesota joined more than a dozen other states passing legislation

aimed to prevent the spread of deepfakes depicting candidates running for state office

The law defines a deepfake as a video picture or audio recording that is so realistic that a reasonable person would believe it depicts speech or conduct of an individual who did not in fact engage in such speech or conduct In many cases

the content would be released on social media or distributed within days of voters casting their

ballots. Depending on the deepfake, it could possibly mislead voters and change the election

outcome. X says this removes the ability for users to debate on public issues and censors

valuable political speech, especially with the threat of criminal liability hanging over the

platform. In the court documents, X says under this enforcement system, platforms that keep up

content presenting a close call under the statute run the risk of criminal penalties. But there is

no penalty for erring on the side of too much censorship. The law says people who share a post

or picture they know to be a deep fake could face penalties if it's within 90 days of an election

Following the passage of the state law, two lawsuits by a Minnesota lawmaker and social media influencer also challenged First Amendment violations, but a judge ultimately rejected their complaints

For Straight Arrow News, I'm Kaylee Carey. For more fact-based, unbiased stories, download the Straight Arrow News mobile app or head to san.com