Will the Government Stop Political Deepfakes Like Elon Musk's Kamala Harris Ad?

[moniss]

1. Many states already have laws that

prohibit dispensing false information to get someone to not vote. We only see occasional enforcement like the prosecution of the jerks for the big fake robo-call scam. Those laws could be interpreted to apply or expanded if need be.

Part of the problem is that shenanigans during elections have been allowed to go on unpunished for way too many decades. People stealing/defacing/destroying yard signs for example. Prosecutors and others pass it off as "well that stuff happens during elections" as though my property or the property of others somehow devalues to nothing during an election year. Likewise with knowingly making false, derogatory statements. You're in line for a defamation case any other time but the legal community seems to feel that, because it's an election year and politicians are involved, that doing so is perfectly OK. I've heard more than one supposed expert/legal beagle say with a smile "Well you know it's political speech and pretty much anything goes."