Online influencer "Mr Reagan" accuses California of bullying humorists.
It's possible that Kohls' concerns about AB 2839 are unwarranted. Newsom spokesperson Izzy Gardon told Politico that Kohls' parody label on X was good enough to clear him of liability under the law.
He pointed to a long history of political cartoons and comedic impressions of politicians, claiming that "AI-generated commentary, though a new mode of speech, falls squarely within this tradition."
His argument doesn’t fly because he didn’t indicate that his political commentary was just that and not real, so it could have been misconstrued as real, which is what the deepfake law is trying to prevent.