Comment by Center for Democracy & Technology

The emergence of widely accessible generative AI has raised concerns that potential misuses of this technology may exacerbate existing election cybersecurity and information integrity challenges. [...] While laudable in its intention to address concerns about election information integrity, H.B.6846 sweeps too broadly and likely violates the First Amendment. To criminalize speech intended to influence the result of an election - when, indeed, influencing election results is the goal of most political speech within 90 days of an election - risks censoring and punishing all people’s protected speech. [...] Parody, satire, and memes are powerful tools of persuasion and are protected by the First Amendment, yet the bill contains no exceptions for this speech.