Latest news with #MinnesotaAttorneyGeneral'sOffice
Yahoo
24-04-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Elon Musk's 'X Corp.' sues MN over constitutionality of political deepfake law
The Brief X Corp. filed a lawsuit suing Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison over the state's laws over political deepfakes. The lawsuit says the state law is a violation of free speech and X's Community Notes can provide context for deepfake content. Minnesota passed a bill on deepfakes with political misinformation into law in 2023. ST. PAUL, Minn. (FOX 9) - Elon Musk's company, X Corporation, filed a lawsuit against Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison challenging the constitutionality of a law that prohibits political misinformation from being shared through deepfakes. The law went into effect in 2023 and was meant to prevent deepfake technology from interfering in the 2024 election, according to the Office of the Minnesota Secretary of State. Click to open this PDF in a new window. Big picture view The lawsuit claims the state law "violates the First and Fourth Amendments of the United States Constitutition, because its requirements are so vague and unintelligible that social media platforms cannot understand what the statute permits and what it prohibits, which will lead to blanket censorship, including of fully protected, core political speech." READ MORE: Social media restrictions in Minnesota focus of new bills The lawsuit also takes issue with the threat of criminal liability, saying there is no penalty for too much censorship, which incentivizes platforms to remove any content that could even be close to a deepfake under Minnesota statutes. Instead of government regulation, the lawsuit points to "robust policies and features" meant to address problematic content. Among those features are "Community Notes," which X uses to provide context to a post in the form of "replies," and can also outright disagree with the original post. Another feature includes an AI chatbot to help the user better understand the content. A full copy of the lawsuit can be viewed below: Click to open this PDF in a new window. What they're saying A spokesperson for the Minnesota Attorney General's Office released a statement, saying, "The Minnesota Attorney General's Office is reviewing the lawsuit and will respond in court." FOX 9 also reached out to the authors of the bill and will update this story if they respond. Dig deeper Minnesota lawmakers also hope to criminalize "nudification" technology that uses another person's likeness without their permission. The bill defines "nudify" as the "process by which an image or video is altered to reveal an intimate part that is not depicted in the original unaltered image or video." READ MORE: Minnesota advances deepfakes bill to criminalize people sharing altered sexual, political content The Source This story used a court filing document from Minnesota District Court and past FOX 9 reporting.
CBS News
20-02-2025
- Politics
- CBS News
AG Keith Ellison says transgender athlete ban violates Minnesota Human Rights Act
President Trump's executive order banning transgender athletes from competing in sports consistent with their gender identity violates the Minnesota Human Rights Act, the Minnesota Attorney General's Office opined on Thursday. The Minnesota State High School League requested a legal opinion from the attorney general's office after the U.S. Department of Education announced an investigation into the league for not complying with the executive order signed earlier this month. The order, titled "Keeping Men Out of Women's Sports," mandates that Title IX, the federal law banning sex discrimination in schools, be interpreted as prohibiting the participation of transgender girls and women in female sports. Those not in compliance jeopardize any federal funding they receive, Mr. Trump said. In the days after the executive order was signed, MSHSL released a statement saying participation and eligibility of transgender student-athletes is determined by the Minnesota Human Rights Act and the Minnesota Constitution. The attorney general's office's legal opinion affirmed that statement, saying the transgender student-athlete ban "does not supersede protections from discrimination in the Minnesota Constitution or Minnesota laws, and that complying with the Executive Order would be a violation of the Minnesota Human Rights Act." "While the Executive Order references Title IX of the Education Amendments Act of 1972, Title IX does not authorize the President to issue directives with the force of law. Therefore, the Executive Order does not supersede Minnesota law," the attorney general's office said. However, some people in the state stand by the executive order and want it to be enforced. Minnesota House Republicans wrote a letter to MSHSL's director, Erich Martens, urging the league to reconsider its stance. "This executive order intends to uphold fairness and maintain competitive integrity in school-based athletics, including those in Minnesota," Speaker of the House Rep. Lisa Demuth wrote. "By refusing to comply, we believe the MSHSL is jeopardizing equal opportunities for all athletes, particularly female athletes." Note: The video above originally aired Feb. 12, 2025.
