Don’t Believe Your Lying Eyes: California Anti-Deepfake Law Struck Down
INTERVIEW ON THE PRICE OF BUSINESS SHOW, MEDIA PARTNER OF THIS SITE.
Recently Kevin Price, Host of the nationally syndicated Price of Business Show, interviewed Tamara Kurtzman.
The Tamara Kurtzman Commentaries
On a recent Price of Business, Host Kevin Price visited with California attorney Tamara Kurtzman.
A federal Court recently struck a California law challenged by Elon Musk and X (formerly Twitter) that would have required social media platforms to remove user-reported posts of political candidate “deepfakes” made in the months leading up to elections. AB 2655 –– the California law at issue –– is part of a larger collection of legislation meant to blunt the impact of AI deepfakes on elections but that litigants have argued violate First Amendment rights by chilling political speech and forcing online platforms to act as de facto publishers of their users’ content in addition to forming such platforms to censor users. In striking down the law, the Court focused primarily on preemption by Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act, which protects online platforms from liability for user-generated content. Specifically, Section 230 is designed to protect service providers from being sued over their users’ content. The concern, of course, is that without such protection, platforms might pre-emptively block or remove any potentially controversial content in order to avoid liability. Section 230 also shields platforms when removing content they deem to be objectionable. Despite this ruling, Ms. Kurtzman discusses how remedies still do potentially still exist for those to have the misfortune to find themselves falsely depicted in deepfakes spread online.
Ms. Kurtzman received her undergraduate degree from the University of Chicago, with honors, and subsequently graduated cum laude from Case Western Reserve University School of Law where she received her juris doctor. While attending Case Western Reserve University School of Law, Ms. Kurtzman served as both an associate member and, subsequently, as Editor-In-Chief of The Internet Law Journal.
Before founding TMK, Ms. Kurtzman served as a partner in a California general-practice law firm specializing in corporate representation where she co-chaired, among other divisions, both the firm’s commercial contracts and litigation practices. Ms. Kurtzman has been featured in:
- The Wall Street Journal
- The Los Angeles Business Journal
- Bloomberg News
- Law360
- The Daily Journal
- Los Angeles Lawyer
- Inside Counsel
- Westlaw’s Sports & Entertainment Journal
- The Beverly Hills Courier
- Backstage
- The ABA Journal
- The Hollywood Times
- Business Law Today
- The Journal of Internet Law
- Corporate Counselor
- Price of Business
In 2012, Ms. Kurtzman was named one of 50 attorneys on the “Fast Track” to becoming the country’s top lawyers and leaders. In 2013, Ms. Kurtzman was inducted into the Beverly Hills Bar Association’s Order of Distinguished Attorneys. In 2017-2021, each year Ms. Kurtzman was selected to SuperLawyer’s Southern California Rising Stars list; each year, less than 3% of the lawyers in the state are selected by the research team at Super Lawyers to receive this honor. Also in 2019, Ms. Kurtzman was named one of the Up-and-Coming 50 Women Southern California Rising Stars by SuperLawyers. In 2015, Ms. Kurtzman became one of the youngest adjunct law professors in the state and, over the years, Ms. Kurtzman has taught pretrial litigation practice and business organizations to numerous classes of law school students. In both 2023 and 2024, Ms. Kurtzman was selected to SuperLawyer’s Southern California Super Lawyer list which recognizes the top 5% of attorneys in each state.
Born and raised in Los Angeles, California, in her spare time Ms. Kurtzman practices Krav Maga and is an avid sabre fencer and bagpiper. Ms. Kurtzman also serves on the Board of American Family Housing, an organization providing long-term housing solutions for formerly homeless veterans and families.
Learn more at www.tmkattorneys.com.
Connect with Tamara Kurtzman on social media:
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tamara-kurtzman-2b540615
Explore more insights at https://thedailyblaze.com/.
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