Deepfakes or criminalizing free speech?: ‘It’s politics’ Bozeman attorney says of mailers in…
A Montana legal complaint argues that mailers with doctored images of a Republican state House candidate are protected free speech, despite a state law regulating deepfakes in election communications.
- Incident date
- May 2026
- Target
- Jennifer Carlson
A legal complaint has been filed in Montana arguing that mailers containing altered images of a political candidate constitute protected free speech. The mailers depict Republican state House District 68 candidate Jennifer Carlson holding LGBTQ+ pride flags and wearing gender-pronoun buttons.
What happened
Dan Bartel created 1,872 mailers with doctored images of Jennifer Carlson. Carlson filed a complaint about the mailers, citing Montana Senate Bill 25, which regulates the use of AI-generated content and deepfakes in election communications. Bartel's attorney argues that the altered photos are an accurate representation of the candidate’s ideology. The complaint names Montana Attorney General Austin Knudsen, Commissioner of Political Practices Chris Gallus, and Lewis and Clark County Attorney Kevin Downs as defendants. The mailers were designed and printed by Resolve Campaigns LLC. Other mailers produced by Bartel depict Republican Rep. Eric Albus similarly to Carlson.