Why is Elon Musk's X going after Minnesota's political deepfakes law?
Elon Musk’s social media platform, X (formerly Twitter), has filed a federal lawsuit challenging Minnesota’s 2023 law that criminalizes the dissemination of AI-generated deepfakes intended to influence elections. X argues that the law violates First Amendment free speech protections and conflicts with Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act, which shields platforms from liability for user-generated content.
The Minnesota law prohibits sharing deepfakes within 90 days of an election if the person knows—or should have known—that the content is fake and intends to harm a candidate’s reputation or influence the election outcome. X contends that the law is overly vague and could lead to excessive censorship of political speech, including satire and parody.
Legal experts have expressed concerns about the law’s constitutionality. Alan Rozenshtein, a University of Minnesota law professor, stated that the law is “very likely to get struck down on both constitutional and statutory grounds.” He emphasized that political speech, even if false, is generally protected under the First Amendment.
Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison’s office is reviewing the lawsuit and has not yet filed a response. The law’s author, Democratic state Senator Erin Maye Quade, criticized the lawsuit, suggesting that Musk is attempting to undermine regulations that prevent the spread of harmful deepfakes during elections.
