Bloomberg reported that X, the social media company that is founded by Elon Musk, is suing to prevent California law AB 2655 from going into effect. California law AB 2655 mandates that large online platforms remove or label AI deepfakes with regard to elections within the state.

X contends the law, also known as the "Defending Democracy from Deepfake Deception Act of 2024," will bring dramatic censorship to political speech. "There is a long history of the strongest of First Amendment protections for speech critical of government officials and candidates for public office that includes tolerance for potentially false speech made in the context of such criticisms," a complaint filed late Thursday in Sacramento federal court reads.

AB 2655 imposes other burdens on platforms that X views as burdensome, including setting up conduits for reporting political deepfakes and a procedure to allow candidates and elected officials to seek injunctive relief if a platform does not comply with the act.
The lawsuit came a month after a federal judge temporarily enjoined a related California deepfakes law to block fake campaign advertisements on the internet.