California blocks controversial fake news law amid fears it criminalises jokes

Critics of a California law which they claimed would criminalise jokes have welcomed a decision by a judge to halt the legislation.

Last month, the California governor Gavin Newsom signed two measures into law to counter fake news and deepfakes misleading voters about politicians.

Nevertheless, the move has been the subject at least of two legal suits and has been condemned by satirists who say it will ban political humour.

However, a district court judge has now granted a temporary restraining order banning the enforcement of the law – it argued the act would stifle freedom of speech like a “hammer”.

Another YouTuber known as Chris Kohls, Mr Reagan, sought an injunction stopping the state from implementing the law after he used the bot to post what is mimics a Kamala Harris campaign video in July.

In the parody advert, the Democratic presidential candidate refers to herself as the ultimate diversity hire and said that she was installed at the top of the ticket because Joe Biden had ‘senility’.

Mr Newsom replied to the video on X, formerly known as Twitter and claimed that ‘manipulating a voice in an ‘ad’ as this ought to be unlawful’. He vowed: “I’ll be signing a bill in a matter of weeks to make sure it is.”

Fight for the freedoms required to ridicule politicians

Mr Kohl filed his lawsuit the same day that the California governor finally filed the measures into law in order to ‘defend all Americans’ right to satire politicians’.

The legislation was likely to be unconstitutional according to the Senior US District Court Judge, John A. Mendez, who granted a preliminary injunction as he presides over the case.

He said that the measures work “like a hammer rather than a scalpel”, and described it as an ‘ blunt instrument’, which ‘suppresses humour and unconstitutionally limits the free and immediate sharing of ideas’.

Elon Musk, the tech billionaire who has been a frequent critic of Mr Newsom, wrote on social media: “The court has halted the unconsitutional law that you have enacted in California that violated your freedom of speech. Yay!”

As the situation stands it may be advisable for citizens to ‘clamp down’ on political jokes.

The law faces another threat from the satirical magazine Babylon Bee, who said that it would help ‘crack down’ on political jokes.

The governor’s spokesman said that, in a statement given to Politico, Mr Newsom was ‘confident’ that the courts would uphold the state’s power to regulate deepfakes.

“Deepfakes compromise the electoral process in our country and these new laws preserve democracy without infringing free speech rights,” they added. “Satire is still present and kickin’ in the state of California even though sometimes people don’t quite get the joke.”