California Gov. Gavin Newsom fulfilled his vow and signed legislation banning AI-powered ‘deepfake’ videos ahead of the 2024 election.
“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,” Newsom previously said.
“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,” the Democrat governor announced Tuesday.
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. https://t.co/VU4b8RBf6N
— Gavin Newsom (@GavinNewsom) September 17, 2024
WATCH:
NEW – California Governor Newsom signs three bills outlawing AI political ads, “related to elections 120 days before Election Day and 60 days thereafter,” at Salesforce event. pic.twitter.com/tMVN5MDJEN
— Disclose.tv (@disclosetv) September 18, 2024
From the Associated Press:
A new law, set to take effect immediately, makes it illegal to create and publish deepfakes related to elections 120 days before Election Day and 60 days thereafter. It also allows courts to stop distribution of the materials and impose civil penalties.
ADVERTISEMENT“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.”
Large social media platforms are also required to remove the deceptive material under a first-in-the-nation law set to be enacted next year. Newsom also signed a bill requiring political campaigns to publicly disclose if they are running ads with materials altered by AI.
“The governor of California just made this parody video illegal in violation of the Constitution of the United States,” Elon Musk commented, referencing a viral Kamala Harris ad parody.
“Would be a shame if it went viral,” he added.
The parody video, posted in July by Mr Reagan, has 47 million views on X at the time of writing.
WATCH:
The governor of California just made this parody video illegal in violation of the Constitution of the United States.
Would be a shame if it went viral. https://t.co/OCBewC4vOb
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) September 18, 2024
Fox Business reports:
The doctored video, which has now been viewed 40 million times on X, plays AI-generated audio of Harris saying she is a deep state puppet and a diversity hire and rips her record on the border.
It’s mixed in with a real viral clip of Harris giving a speech where she gives a rambling speech about the significance of the passage of time.
ADVERTISEMENTX allows parody accounts, so long as they distinguish themselves as such “in their account name and in their bio,” per the company’s website. The platform does not have rules around individual posts containing parody and has been known to label deepfakes if the poster does not do so.
The Harris deepfake video is captioned: “Kamala Harris Campaign Ad PARODY.”
Musk shared the video in July and then Newsom said he would outlaw such videos in the Golden State.
This is a Guest Post from our friends over at 100 Percent Fed Up.
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