[🇪🇸 Congreso, May 2024] Criminalizing deepfakes and malicious use of AI in electoral campaigns

Federal laws should outline penalties specific to the severity of using deepfakes and election disinformation crimes, as the State of Minnesota has done. Unverified source (2024)

when an AI in elections is intentionally deceptive and malicious. We need to be able to recognize it, stop it, and prosecute it. Unverified source (2024)

disclaimers and disclosure of political advertisements generated with AI, and we have made it a crime for anyone to knowingly and deceptively distribute AI-generated deepfakes. Unverified source (2024)

“we don't want deepfakes being political weaponized in our elections,” [...] “a handful of votes that could very easily be swayed by deepfake messaging in the critical hours before the vote,” La Chica said. “There's no place in Hawaii for that.” Unverified source (2024)

“the manipulations you can do with AI these days that can make it convincingly look like someone is saying something they never said or doing something they never did. There's got to be some penalty if you get caught.” Unverified source (2024)

There’s some people who may decide if they know there is punishment for it, they’ll say that maybe I won’t do this,” Chestnut said. “Maybe I’ll just do some negative ads but I won’t put out completely false information or depict this person on a fals... more Unverified source (2024)

Those candidates who disrespect the rules and use artificial intelligence negatively [...] will face the penalty of having their registration revoked [...] Unverified source (2024)

If you do misinformation [...] you can be prosecuted. That has slowed down the deepfakes manipulation of videos and photographs [...] Unverified source (2024)

You cannot, as an outside group, influence an election [...] using someone’s voice, their likeness [...] to create a false narrative [...] changing the elections results. Unverified source (2024)

We’re confident the courts will uphold the state’s ability to regulate these types of dangerous and misleading deepfakes. Unverified source (2024)

We’ve already seen examples of how AI generated content can be used to confuse voters and influence election outcomes. Unverified source (2024)

There is so much misinformation and disinformation on the internet, especially around political campaigns [...] people can create deepfakes of elected officials or candidates. Unverified source (2025)

[Translated from Spanish] They will be punished. It applies during the electoral process. It covers candidate images or audio altered or recreated by AI. Unverified source (2023)

[Translated from Spanish] Obvious satire won’t be criminal... Identified AI deepfakes won’t be criminal... If it deceives citizens, it will have criminal sanction. Unverified source (2024)

My staff and I have monitored trends across the globe, and the spread of deepfakes into state and local races is happening now in America. Unverified source (2024)

We need guardrails to protect our elections. Senator Hawley and I worked [...] on a bill [...] to get at deepfake videos. Unverified source (2023)

We can hold social media companies and Big Tech accountable for election deepfakes and other AI-driven harms. Unverified source (2024)

American democracy faces novel threats from deceptive content generated by artificial intelligence, and we must take action to defend our system of free and fair elections. Unverified source (2023)

The increasing access to sophisticated AI-generated content threatens the integrity of elections by facilitating the dissemination of misleading or completely fabricated information Unverified source (2023)

The deepfake has an ability to fool the voter into believing that they are themselves seeing a person say or do something they didn’t say. Unverified source (2023)

it has broad support on both sides of the aisle to prohibit fraudulent AI-generated deepfakes in our election. Unverified source (2024)

New Hampshire remains committed to ensuring that our elections remain free from unlawful interference. I hope that our respective enforcement actions send a strong deterrent signal to anyone who might consider interfering with elections, whether thr... more Unverified source (2024)

How can bad actors be deterred from and held accountable for attempting to unfairly influence elections or falsely impugn election outcomes by using artificially generated deepfakes? The Task Force should propose model state legislation prohibiting ... more Unverified source

As we approach Election Day, it is imperative Mississippians arm themselves with knowledge of the growing threat of AI deepfakes. These hyper-realistic, AI-generated forgeries of videos, images, and pieces of audio aren’t just a sign of an advancing... more Unverified source (2024)

Fraud is fraud, and that’s what this bill is coming down to. That’s not a first amendment right for anyone. Unverified source (2024)

deepfakes [...] should be of great concern [...]. That confusion can be [...] dangerous for our democracy [...]. [...] strong penalties [...] hijack our elections. Unverified source (2024)

Spain can create stronger laws. This initiative would add a criminal offense for candidates using deepfakes and generative AI. It targets campaign manipulation. Unverified source (2024)

We support this bill because it broadens the law criminalizing the use of deepfakes [...]. AI-generated deepfakes are a here-and-now threat to our elections. Unverified source (2025)

often referred to as a “deep fake,” when it is used in campaign or election-related material. [...] a misdemeanor on the first conviction and a fourth-degree felony on the second. Unverified source (2024)

Amend the electoral law to add a new crime. It would punish malicious distribution of AI-generated images and voices. During the electoral process. Unverified source (2024)

Of course he is upset that Minnesota law prevents him from spreading deepfakes that meant to harm candidates and influence elections. Unverified source (2025)

You can no longer knowingly distribute an ad or other election communications that contain materially deceptive content — including deepfakes. Unverified source (2024)

This amendment also establishes criminal and civil penalties for the malicious use of deepfakes in Federal elections while providing necessary exemptions for broadcasting or publication [...] Unverified source (2019)

One very, very good deepfake video could make a candidate look horrible [...] Do we need to be arresting people? I don’t really know yet [...] Unverified source (2025)

Lawmakers are alarmed by deepfakes—synthetic media that mimic reality—[...] especially in high-stakes election campaigns. Yet some of the new state deepfake laws raise serious First Amendment concerns. Unverified source (2024)

A Minnesota law, for instance, criminalizes dissemination of a “deep fake” in the lead-up to an election [...] this law reaches well beyond that. Unverified source (2024)

The court is right to put a stop to Hawaii’s war against political memes and satire. The First Amendment doesn’t allow Hawaii to choose what political speech is acceptable. Unverified source (2026)

H.B.6846 would create misdemeanor and felony criminal penalties for any speaker that knowingly distributes certain unlabeled AI-generated images within 90 days of an general or primary election with the intent of influencing the results of an electio... more Unverified source (2025)

It will result in the chilling and blocking of constitutionally protected free speech. Unverified source (2024)

Most of AB 2839 acts as a hammer instead of a scalpel [...] unconstitutionally stifles the free and unfettered exchange of ideas. Unverified source (2024)

This is something that can be addressed in a civil way [...] we are fast and loose with criminal penalties. Unverified source (2024)

Loy said the Minnesota deepfake law has “significant First Amendment problems” ... it’s “not the business of the government to use the force of law to punish speech ... true or false.” Unverified source (2025)

A deepfake video ... is “at its core, simply a lie” ... “The government is not free to punish speech solely because it is false ...” Unverified source (2025)

“I think the argument in this lawsuit is quite strong,” ... the deepfake law is “very likely to get struck down on both constitutional and statutory grounds.” Unverified source (2025)

But HB 145 seeks to criminalize AI content based on subjectively defined terms such as election-related “deepfakes.” Unverified source (2026)

the best remedy for false or bad speech is true or better a speech, no law will save our democratic institutions Unverified source (2023)

I'll note that there's absolutely nothing special about deepfakes or generative AI, the buzzwords of the day, in the context of this petition, Unverified source (2023)

[State defendants] have failed to demonstrate that existing laws are insufficient to deal with the purported risk of political deepfakes and generative AI technologies on the integrity of Hawaii elections. Rather than require actual harm, Act 191 im... more Unverified source (2025)

Virginia now looks to be going down a similar road with a new bill to penalize people for merely sharing certain AI-generated media of political candidates. This legislation, which has been in SB 775 and HB 2479, would make it illegal to share artif... more Unverified source (2025)

These laws [...] target core political speech. These laws were passed [...] to protect politicians [...]. It is a roadmap to widespread censorship. Unverified source (2024)

The First Amendment protects our right to tell jokes, whether it’s election season or not. We’ll never stop fighting to defend that freedom. Unverified source (2025)

AI-generated content about election candidates [...] address the issues arising from deep fakes better than criminal penalties. Unverified source (2024)

It creates a new criminal offense of election interference with a deep fake, [...]. The ACLU of Georgia opposes SB 392 [...]. Unverified source (2024)

malicious deepfakes [...] the bill imposes criminal penalties [...] interfere in an election [...] The First Amendment generally bars criminal laws. Unverified source (2019)

While the law's reference to banning 'deep fakes' might sound benign, in reality it would criminalize innocuous, election-related speech, including humor. Unverified source (2025)