No, Democrats in California haven't outlawed memes and satire on social media

What's being claimed?

A recent bill signed by California Governor Gavin Newsom does not criminalize meme posting, satire, and parodies, despite several social media posts falsely claiming that memes and satire have been "publicly outlawed" in the U.S. state.

In a viral video, Newsom appears to be on a stage, signing papers to the sound of applause. The video was shared by the X (formerly Twitter) account "End Wokeness" with the caption "BREAKING: Governer Gavin Newsom signs AB2655, forcing social media sites to ban election-related memes created with AI."

The post was seen over 1.6 million times within 12 hours of posting and gained the attention of InfoWars anchor Alex Jones, who likened Newsom to the serial killer protagonist Patrick Bateman from Bret Easton Ellis' novel American Psycho and claimed that Newsom "has publicly outlawed memes and satire in the state of California."

The news has been used to claim that the Democratic party at large wants to "arrest you for posting memes in the U.S.," which has been reposted by X owner Elon Musk.

(Source: X/Screenshots/Modified by Logically Facts)

However, the bill aims to address deepfake and AI-generated election content, with specific exemptions for satire and parody. 

What's the context here?

Over the past months, social media has been awash with AI-generated content relating to the U.S. election. AI-generated images have circulated depicting the presidential candidate Kamala Harris in a communist outfit, presidential candidate Donald Trump in Nazi attire, and Taylor Swift fans wearing "Swifties for Trump" apparel. 

AI-generated images of Kamala Harris, Donald Trump, and Elon Musk, shared on X. (Source:X/Modified by Logically Facts)

Several of these images have been posted or shared by high-profile social media figures such as Trump and Musk without clearly labelling the content as AI-generated. 

California Governor Newsom vowed to sign a bill to combat deepfake election content in late July after Musk shared a parody Kamala Harris campaign ad that used a voiceover that sounds like the vice president. 

X post from Governor Newsom on 18 September. (Source: X/Screenshot)

Musk was quick to respond to the news by reposting the initial Kamala Harris deepfake video on X, writing "You're not gonna believe this, but @GavinNewsom just announced that he signed a LAW to make parody illegal, based on this video."

So what are these new bills about?

On September 17, Governor Newsom signed several AI-related bills — AB 2655, AB 2839, and AB 2355 — that aim to curb the spread of deep fakes and digitally altered election-related content on social media.

However, the bills make exemptions for parody and satire.

Speaking to Logically Facts, Jef Pearlman, Clinical Professor of Law and Director of the Intellectual Property and Technology Law Clinic at USC Gould School of Law, highlighted that AB 2893 — the law concerning the prohibition of certain content — only applies to advertisement or election communications about a candidate in a period around an election. 

"This excludes the vast majority of memes and satire," he said. "Additionally, AB 2839 and AB 2655 explicitly exempt satire and parody, though AB 2839 requires labeling of such satire or parody."

Pearlman added that none of the three acts are brand new, but that each expands existing election-related law. 

Therese Enarsson, Associate Professor and Deputy Head at the Department of Law at the Swedish Umeå University, also emphasized that AB 2655 — which has been the core focus of the social media claims — explicitly states that the ban does not apply to material that constitutes satire or parody, and only aims to target deepfakes of political candidates in a limited time span before and after elections.

"Memes will not be banned — it is clear from the legislation," Enarsson told Logically Facts.

The verdict

Recent California legislation aims to limit the spread of AI-generated election content on social media, but exemptions are made for satire and parody. So, while bill AB 2839 does prohibit AI-generated content of politicians or political candidates, deepfake memes of Kamala Harris or Donald Trump can still be shared as long as they are clearly labeled as manipulated. Therefore, we have rated this claim as false.