Public Citizen Rolls Out New Tracker of State-Level Bills to Ban Political Deepfakes

Public Citizen today rolled out a new tracker for monitoring the progress of state-level bills that ban or require disclosure of political deepfakes – A.I.-generated images, audio, or video depicting a candidate saying or doing things they never did to damage their reputation and deceive voters. The tracker includes the state, bill number, a link to each bill, and its current status.

State legislatures across the country are starting to pass urgently needed legislation to regulate deepfakes in elections, usually with bipartisan backing. So far, this legislation has received bipartisan support in every state where it has passed, including California, Michigan, Minnesota, Texas, and Washington.

“Without new legislation and regulation, deepfakes are likely to further confuse voters and undermine confidence in elections,” said Ilana Beller, democracy campaign field manager for Public Citizen. “Deepfake video could be released days or hours before an election with no time to debunk it – misleading voters and altering the outcome of the election.”

Currently legislation to ban or require disclosure of political deepfakes has been introduced in Illinois, Kentucky, New Jersey, and New York. Public Citizen and its allies are working hard to pass the legislation in these and other states.