Elon Musk’s X sues Minnesota over law to criminalize sharing election-related deepfakes

Tech billionaire Elon Musk’s social media platform X is suing the state of Minnesota over a new law that makes it a crime to share deepfake information to influence an election, arguing it violates constitutional protections for free speech.

The complaint, filed by X Corp. in federal court this week, argues that the law’s requirements are “so vague and unintelligible that social media platforms cannot understand what the statute permits and what it prohibits.”

That will lead “to blanket censorship, including of fully protected, core political speech,” the complaint reads.

The Minnesota Legislature passed a law in 2023 that cracks down on the use of deepfake video or audio created by AI purporting to show someone saying or doing something that didn’t happen.

The law makes it a crime in the state to disseminate a deepfake within 90 days of an election that’s made without the consent of the person depicted and is intended to influence results or harm a candidate’s reputation.

The lawsuit from X names Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison and asks the court to permanently block enforcement of the law.

The complaint argues the threat of criminal penalties will incentivize platforms “to err on the side of removing” any content that could potentially violate the statute.

“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,” it reads.

The lawsuit says the platform has features such as community notes and an AI chatbot that can help flag or add context to problematic content.

Secretary of State Steve Simon called out the platform last year when “Grok,” X’s AI chatbot, claimed the deadline to sign up to be on the state’s presidential ballot had already passed by the time Joe Biden dropped out of the race.

That was not the case, and eventually Grok changed its answer when asked about ballot deadlines in Minnesota and a handful of other states.

Musk, who purchased X in 2021, has been criticized for reposting deepfake content on his own social media platform. Last July, he reposted a manipulated campaign ad that purported to show Vice President Kamala Harris criticizing Biden and calling herself a “diversity hire.”

Days after resharing the deepfake, Musk edited his original post to disclose that it was a parody.

Earlier this year, a federal judge blocked the implementation of a different Minnesota campaign finance law passed in 2023 that aimed to limit political contributions from corporations with some foreign ownership.