Beware the Muzzle

Because the Holy Spirit resides in the heart of a believer, we can be diligent to discern right from wrong, good from evil, what is true from what is false. 1st John 4 states:
1 Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits, whether they are of God; because many false prophets have gone out into the world.
2 By this you know the Spirit of God: Every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is of God,
3 and every spirit that does not confess that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is not of God. And this is the spirit of the Antichrist, which you have heard was coming, and is now already in the world.
4 You are of God, little children, and have overcome them, because He who is in you is greater than he who is in the world.

It gets my attention when I see news stories about limitations being placed on freedom of speech.  I have reported in instances where Christian commentators and thought leaders have had their posts censored from social media platforms or even had their accounts suspended.  Now, to pull down posts that are pornographic in nature is one thing, but to have content removed because it doesn't fit a certain narrative is another.  And, who decides?

California Governor Gavin Newsom is at it again.  FoxNews.com reports that:

New legislation signed by California Gov. Gavin Newsom regulating AI-generated "deepfake" election content and requiring the removal of "deceptive content" from social media is now being challenged in court.

The article goes on to say:

The legislation, which Newsom's office says will not ban memes or parodies, will instead require all satire or parody content to either remove their content or display a disclaimer label that the content is digitally altered. One of the laws also exempts "Materially deceptive content that constitutes satire or parody."

But the attorney for the account holder suing California, Theodore Frank, told Fox News Digital in an interview that there's a provision in one of the laws that would require social media platforms to have "a large censorship apparatus and respond to complaints within 36 hours."

"And what's going to happen is that social media is just going to ban us so that they don't have to have a big infrastructure to deal with it. They're not going to look to see whether something counts as parody," Frank said.

CEO of social media platform, X, formerly Twitter, Elon Musk, posted: “Hard to be a free speech platform in a state that wants to ban free speech..."

The Orange County Register, in an editorial, stated:

Gov. Gavin Newsom should have known this would happen. After he signed three new laws regulating political ads and parodies produced by artificial intelligence, the Babylon Bee parody site produced one flouting the law and mocking him. It uses what’s called a “deepfake” of his voice praising such “achievements” as people leaving the state and the homeless crisis.

One of the bills...

...would require tech platforms to label content “inauthentic, fake, or false.” It would exempt “satire or parody,” TV stations, newspapers and magazines from the bill if they “satisfy specified requirements,” as determined by the government. Candidates, elected officials, election officers, local district attorneys and the state attorney general could “seek injunctive relief” for “noncompliance.”

The Computer & Communications Industry Association "led a coalition of tech firms objecting to the bill." The editorial concluded by saying, "Democracy thrives through freedom of speech, including deep fakes and other parodies. These and other AI bills the governor may sign almost certainly will be rejected in the courts. Let a thousand political jokes bloom."

On The Meeting House, I have warned about the dangers of artificial intelligence.  And, we have to be discerning with respect to the information we receive, recognizing that it may have been manipulated to create a certain effect.  

But, when a progressive governor is taking action against content creators and platforms, I believe that can chill freedom of speech, making it potentially hard to recognize when creativity turns into criminality. And, a former Presidential candidate has called for criminal charges to be filed against those who spread what she deems as propaganda.  LifeSite News reported, concerning recent comments made by Hillary Clinton:

While Clinton’s suggestion that Americans be criminally charged for election “propaganda” already raises grave concerns about First Amendment violations, regardless of the nature of the content shared, the potential civil or criminal charging of Americans for sharing information that is demonstrably true would certainly embody full-blown government tyranny, the death of democracy, and the death of a free society.

Interestingly, the afore-mentioned Fox story mentioned an Alabama law that was characterized as similar.  But, is it really?  That was seemingly a reference to the Alabama Child Protection Act, which goes into effect next week.  According to Fox 10 out of Mobile:  

The law makes it a crime to use artificial intelligence or other means to create sexually explicit depictions of children of that are indistinguishable from actual children. Lawmakers argued that rapidly advancing technology makes it increasingly different to tell the difference.

Innocent parody is one thing, protecting children from harm is quite different, in my estimation.

But, the Newsom actions can certainly have unintended consequences, and as predicted, will result in court action, which has already begun.  For the Christian, again, we have to be discerning regarding the content we consume - and post.  But, if we have a constructive, Biblical message to share, we should not be intimidated in being bold servants of the Most High.  Yes, there will be those "speech police" who set themselves as arbiters of what is misinformation or disinformation, what is acceptable speech. But, we can continue to uphold the truth.