California's newest law could land social media users who post, or repost, AI deepfakes that deceive voters about upcoming elections in legal trouble.

Elon Musk ended X's time as a California company and followed through on his promise to bring the social media platform to Texas.  New court filings revealed that X's headquarters are now in Bastrop,

Kohls' video that Musk shared seemingly would violate these laws by using AI to make Harris appear to give speeches that she never gave. The manipulated audio sounds like Harris, who appears to be mocking herself as a "diversity hire" and claiming that any critics must be "sexist and racist."

The California Governor signed a set of laws Tuesday to crack down on the use of AI-generated deepfakes in political ads.

In reply to a post condemning Newsom's law, which taunts "memes are illegal", Musk writes: "The Joker is in charge," and he also reposts a picture of Newsom alongside the Batman villain.

California now has some of the toughest laws in the United States to crack down on election deepfakes ahead of the 2024 election after Gov. Gavin Newsom signed three landmark proposals this week at an artificial intelligence conference in San Francisco.

In July, the X user shared a digitally altered campaign video mocking Harris, which Elon Musk then boosted and shared.

California Gov. Gavin Newsom signed legislation Tuesday banning “deepfakes" but X owner Elon Musk quickly reshared an unflattering AI-doctored video of Vice President Kamala Harris.

The creator of a viral July post on X that used artificial intelligence to mock Vice President Kamala Harris’s campaign is suing to block a California law regulating political AI and deepfakes. Gov. Gavin Newsom (D-CA) signed AB 2839 into law in an attempt to keep AI-aided political disinformation out of the election.

Under a pioneering law set to be implemented next year, large social media platforms will be obligated to remove deceptive content.