A federal judge has struck down two California laws designed to curb the use of artificial intelligence in political campaigns, ruling the measures violated constitutional free speech protections and federal law.
Senior U.S. District Judge John Mendez, appointed under President George W. Bush, on Friday blocked enforcement of Assembly Bill 2839, which banned AI-generated “deepfakes” and disinformation in political advertising within 120 days of an election. The law had faced legal challenges from internet personalities and the satirical website The Babylon Bee.
In his decision, Mendez acknowledged the risks AI-generated content poses to democracy but concluded that restricting such material in advance amounted to unconstitutional censorship. “To be sure, deepfakes and artificially manipulated media arguably pose significant risks to electoral integrity, but the challenges launched by digital content on a global scale cannot be quashed through censorship or legislative fiat,” he wrote. “Just as the government may not dictate the canon of comedy, California cannot preemptively sterilize political content.”
Mendez also issued a judgment against Assembly Bill 2655, which required platforms to remove manipulated political content. He had previously determined the measure conflicted with Section 230 of the federal Communications Decency Act, which shields platforms from liability over third-party posts.
The ruling comes after Gov. Gavin Newsom signed both bills into law in September 2024, warning that AI-generated disinformation threatened public trust in elections. Now, as California prepares for the 2026 cycle, the state’s attempt to become the first to regulate AI political content has been halted—leaving questions about how campaigns will handle an election season flooded with new technology.
