SB9 would make it a crime of “fraudulent election interference” for political campaigns to knowingly publish “materially deceptive” media within 90 days of an election, with the intent of “significantly influencing” a candidate in or “creating confusion” about the election.
The House passed SB9 on March 27, 2025, by a vote of 152 to 12. We have assigned pluses to the nays because this dubious piece of legislation originally established punishments for creating obscene AI-generated images of children but was later morphed into a bill on “fraudulent” election materials. Similar to California Governor Gavin Newsom’s “speech police” laws, which were passed supposedly to combat “deepfakes” and other deceptive content, this bill also raises serious concerns about attempts to silence political dissent. While its criminal penalties seem to apply only to persons “affiliated” with political parties or campaigns, and exceptions do exist for “satire” and “parody,” significant part's of the bill's text are vague. The question of who decides, and by what standard, whether something is “materially deceptive” remains extremely troubling. It may even be an indirect form of voter intimidation or “election interference” itself, especially considering the risk of potential felony charges. The Georgia Constitution plainly says that, “No law shall be passed to curtail or restrain the freedom of speech.” However, this bill does not make it clear at all if someone actually would or should be “responsible for abuse of that liberty.”
