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Delegates reject First Amendment carve-out for election-misinformation law; debate centers on deep fakes and time/place voting info
Summary
The House debated and rejected an amendment that would have protected campaign speech, satire and criticism from a bill targeting election misinformation, disinformation, and criminal ‘deep fakes.’ Sponsors warned the change could block enforcement against false time/place voting information; opponents cited pending court precedent and free‑speech risks.
The House of Delegates on March 23 debated an amendment to legislation aimed at restricting election misinformation, disinformation and criminal deep fakes, but members voted down the change that the amendment’s sponsor said was necessary to protect core political speech.
The amendment, offered by the delegate from Harford County, would have inserted explicit language saying the bill “may not be construed to restrict protected political speech, campaign communications, opinions, satire, parody or criticism of candidates or officials.” The sponsor said the insertion was modeled on recent court decisions and was intended to ensure the measure would survive strict‑scrutiny judicial review.
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