The social media platform “X,” formerly known as Twitter and owned by billionaire Elon Musk, is suing Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison over a state law that bans the use of deepfakes in elections.

Deepfake images or videos can depict events that never happened or show people saying things they never said.

In 2023, Minnesota made it a crime to knowingly disseminate a deepfake within 90 days of an election.

The state was one of the first in the nation to regulate use of A.I.-generated material in elections, which officials worried could be used to spread misinformation about candidates or the voting process.

In a lawsuit filed Wednesday in federal court, attorneys representing X Corp argue the statute violates free speech rights of “X” and other social media platforms.

“Worse yet, [Minnesota’s law] creates an enforcement system, backed with the threat of criminal liability, that incentivizes platforms to err on the side of removing any content that presents even a close call as to whether it is a ‘deep fake’ prohibited by the statute,” the complaint states.

A spokesperson for the AG’s office said it is reviewing the lawsuit but declined to comment further at this time.

Other states are trying to regulate the technology by also outlawing the use of deepfakes in elections.

The push began ahead of the 2024 presidential election, which is when 5 INVESTIGATES first looked at which states were passing laws to address the issue.

Last March, six states already had laws on the books, but 36 others were working on legislation, according to data compiled by Public Citizen, a nonprofit consumer advocacy organization.

New data shows a dramatic increase in both enacted and pending legislation. Nearly half of all states now have laws regulating A.I.-generated material in elections. Another 20 have pending legislation.

The remaining eight states either have legislation that failed or haven’t addressed the issue.

At this point, there is no federal law that addresses deepfakes in elections, something experts say is needed to meaningfully address this issue.