May 11 • General discussion
Washington’s Deepfake Law Can’t Be Hamstrung by Subjectivity
On June 11, 2026, Washington’s Substitute Senate Bill 5886 takes effect. It bans AI deepfakes that “convincingly mimic” a real person without consent. The problem: recognizability is subjective. Take Sean Strickland’s face altered into Derek’s in the famous curb scene from American History X.
Run it through Yandex Images and among the top results are a couple of actual Sean Strickland images, but also fifteen other unrelated faces that look similar. So when a judge says it’s “recognizable,” they’re making a claim technology itself can’t distinguish from anyone else in that results set.
Satire and parody are First Amendment protected speech. Courts haven’t figured out where deepfakes land. The law exposes creators to defamation, right of publicity, and fraud claims all built on a recognizability standard that doesn’t hold up technologically or constitutionally.
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Washington’s Deepfake Law Can’t Be Hamstrung by Subjectivity
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