Judge Strikes Hawaii Deepfake Election Law
Yesterday U.S. District Judge Shanlyn Park in Babylon Bee, LLC v. Lopez (D. Haw.) held Hawaii's Act 191 unconstitutional, striking down a law that banned reckless distribution of "materially deceptive" election-related media and imposed criminal and civil penalties. The court found the statute content-based and not narrowly tailored under strict scrutiny, citing onerous disclaimer and citation requirements and endorsing less restrictive alternatives like counter-speech and media literacy.
Key Points
- 1Invalidates Hawaii's Act 191 banning 'materially deceptive' election media with criminal and civil penalties
- 2Finds law is content-based and not narrowly tailored, failing strict scrutiny due to overbreadth
- 3Suggests less restrictive alternatives like targeted counter-speech, media literacy, and existing statutes instead
Scoring Rationale
Authoritative federal ruling with clear First Amendment reasoning; limited impact because it's a single-state decision and narrower factual record.
Sources
Public references used for this report.
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