Appeals Court temporarily stops Minnesota's ban of AI "nudification" after Elon Musk lawsuit

On Friday, the 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals issued a temporary injunction that blocked enforcement of Minnesota’s first-of-its-kind "nudification" ban. The ruling drew swift condemnation from the bill's author, state Senator Erin Maye Quade (DFL).

"I mean, it's absolutely devastating," she explained. "The 8th Circuit, with no explanation, there's no reasoning, they gave no explanation as to why they do this. They just gave the predators their favorite tool back to create child sexual abuse material and engage in image-based sexual violence primarily against women."

Signed into law by Governor Tim Walz in May, the measure took effect on August 1 and bans website operators and software developers from allowing users to create realistic, non-consensual deepfake pornography or altered nude images. Violators a stiff, $500,000 civil penalty for doing so.

Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison is vowing to vigorously defend the statute as a necessary protection against digital harassment.

xAI—the developer behind the Grok chatbot—argued that the statute is an "overbroad, content-based ban on free speech". The company maintains that the First Amendment protects the tools of visual expression.

May Quade worked in the legislature to get the law passed in an effort to protect women and children against digital harassment.

"To specifically give Elon Musk, the richest man in the world who has built his company's business model around making money off of creation of child sexual abuse material and image-based sexual violence, I just - and for what? Minnesota was the safest state to be a child in public, to be a person out in public, until the 8th Circuit ruled here," May Quade adds. "And you know, I'm glad that Attorney General Ellison is going to continue to fight this case because we need these defenders. But it's just, I don't know specifically what the next legal battles are."