‘Planet Hank’ Sues AG Clark Over AI Video Investigation
A law targeting deceptive political advertisements in Vermont is facing its first legal test from the man who posted an AI-generated video of the U.S. Rep. Becca Balint (D-Vt.)
Hank Poitras, who has gained notoriety for filming arrests in Brattleboro and posting them on the internet under the moniker “Planet Hank,” has filed a federal lawsuit arguing that Vermont’s “synthetic media disclosure law” is unconstitutional.
The lawsuit, filed Wednesday by attorney Brady Toensing, the former vice chair of the Vermont Republican Party, focuses on the response to a June 7 video Poitras posted to his social media accounts.
The AI-generated video mocks Balint while promoting one of her Republican challengers: Mark Coester, a logger from Westminster. The video depicts Balint making arrogant statements and includes a scene of Coester scooping the congresswoman up in a backhoe and dropping her into a dumpster.
On June 12, Poitras received a letter from the office of Vermont Attorney General Charity Clark, a Democrat, notifying him that he was under investigation for potential violations of Vermont’s new “synthetic media disclosure law.”
Passed in March, the law generally requires that political attack ads running within 90 days of an election disclose that they were generated by AI when that’s the case and they promote “materially false information.” The law exempts satire and parody.
The AG office’s letter to Poitras was a civil investigative demand, which compels the disclosure of documents at the start of an investigation. It seeks to discern whether Poitras personally made the video, what AI tools were used, what prompts were entered, whether it was intended to appear realistic and whether anyone else was involved in its creation.
The letter further states that Poitras could face criminal prosecution for the video. But it says that if he brings the video into compliance by incorporating the required disclosures, then AG’s office would likely back off from its investigation. The office gave Poitras until July 10 to respond.
Clark is the only defendant. Her chief of staff told Seven Days she could not comment because she has not yet been served.
The lawsuit seeks monetary compensation and asks a judge to grant a preliminary injunction to prevent Clark’s office from investigating further. Poitras, a disabled combat vet who served in Iraq, “has a critical view of incumbent Vermont politicians and has used artificial intelligence and other digital tools to lampoon and criticize such politicians,” the lawsuit says. “He intends to continue to do so in the future, especially in the election season.”
The lawsuit argues that Poitras’ Balint video is exempt from Vermont’s AI law because it is obviously satirical.
“No one, but a very young child or an unusually gullible person, would believe that the video, which also depicts Ms. Balint wearing a French-style beret as she is being lifted into the dumpster, is real,” the lawsuit reads.
The suit argues more broadly that the law itself is the problem, infringing on Vermonters’ First Amendment rights to criticize their elected officials.
Typically, content-based speech restrictions only pass constitutional muster if they are narrowly tailored to promote a compelling government interest. Vermont’s law fails that test, the suit argues, because it is overly broad and has scant details about what might constitute reputational harm. Further, the suit questions whether the law might extend to videos that promote truthful but unflattering statements about a candidate.
“The remedy for false or misleading speech is more speech, not enforced silence, and the government has no legitimate interest in appointing itself the arbiter of political truth,” the suit says.
Lawmakers said free speech concerns were top of mind when they drafted Act 75. It’s why the law calls for a disclosure rather than seeking to ban the content, they said.
The lawsuit argues empowering the AG to investigate potential violations of the law and threaten criminal prosecutions has a de facto chilling effect. As a result of the investigation, the suit says, Poitras has been forced to retain an attorney and to consider self-censoring to avoid prosecution.
The lawsuit also targets Clark personally, accusing her of using her position of power to stifle political speech that is critical of a political ally. It argues that Clark appears to want to protect a “favored candidate from unflattering political speech,” as shown by the fact that none of her office’s questions to Poitras mentioned Coester.
“Who is to say that Mr. Coester was not negatively depicted in a video that showed him hop into an excavator and violently scoop up and discard a beret-clad woman half his size?” the lawsuit asks.
Coester did not seem too concerned about his reputation when speaking to Seven Days last month, saying he thought the video was hilarious.
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