Section 1 Short title
This Act may be cited as the “Candidate Voice Fraud Prohibition Act”.
Candidate Voice Fraud Prohibition Act
A BILL
To amend the Federal Election Campaign Act of 1971 to prohibit the distribution, with actual malice, of certain political communications that contain materially deceptive audio generated by artificial intelligence which impersonate a candidate’s voice and are intended to injure the candidate’s reputation or to deceive a voter into voting against the candidate, and for other purposes.
Sec. 2 Sense of Congress
It is the sense of Congress that the prohibitions on paid-for political communications contained within this Act serve the purpose of furthering a compelling government interest by serving the informational interest of voters by preventing voters from hearing materially deceptive and intentionally falsified renderings of candidate voices in political communications, as this type of malicious content in political communications is innately harmful to free and fair elections.
Sec. 3 Prohibition on the distribution of certain paid-for political communications that contain materially deceptive audio generated by artificial intelligence which impersonate a candidate’s voice
In general— Title III of the Federal Election Campaign Act of 1971 (52 U.S.C. 30101 et seq.) is amended by adding at the end the following new section:
“325. Prohibition on the distribution of certain communications that contain materially deceptive audio generated by artificial intelligence
“(a) In general—Except as provided in subsection (b), with respect to a communication described in section 318(a) for which a disbursement is made, no person, political committee, or other entity may distribute such a communication if the communication—
“(1) contains materially deceptive audio generated by artificial intelligence which impersonates a candidate’s voice;
“(2) is distributed with actual malice;
“(3) is intended to injure the candidate’s reputation or to deceive a voter into voting against the candidate; and
“(4) is distributed—
“(A) within 90 days of a general, special, or runoff election of the office sought by the candidate; or
“(B) within 60 days of a primary or preference election, or a convention or caucus of a political party that has authority to nominate a candidate for the office sought by the candidate.
“(b) Inapplicability to certain entities—This section does not apply to the following:
“(1) A radio or television broadcasting station, including a cable or satellite television operator, programmer, or producer, when it is paid to broadcast materially deceptive audio.
“(2) A radio or television broadcasting station, including a cable or satellite television operator, programmer, or producer, that broadcasts materially deceptive audio as part of a bona fide newscast, news interview, news documentary, or on-the-spot coverage of bona fide news events.
“(3) Materially deceptive audio that clearly constitutes satire or parody, as determined by the Commission.
“(4) An internet website, or a regularly published newspaper, magazine, or other periodical of general circulation, including an internet or electronic publication, that routinely carries news and commentary of general interest, and that publishes materially deceptive audio.
“(5) An interactive computer service provider, information content provider, or an access software provider as described in section 230(f) of the Communications Act of 1934 (47 U.S.C. 230(f)) who publishes or permits the circulation of materially deceptive audio.
“(c) Definitions—In this section, the following definitions apply:
“(1) Materially deceptive audio—The term materially deceptive audio means audio or video audio that—
“(A) mimics the voice of a candidate for election for Federal office in such a manner that the audio would falsely appear to a reasonable person to be the authentic voice of that candidate and the use of that audio has not been pre-approved by the candidate; and
“(B) does not contain in the communication containing the audio a clear, conspicuous, and overt disclaimer indicating that the audio used in the communication was not actually spoken by the candidate in question, as determined by the Commission.
“(2) Actual malice—The term actual malice means knowledge that certain audio or video audio was created using artificial intelligence in order to create a false representation, or a reckless disregard of whether the audio or video audio was, in fact, genuine.
“(3) Generated by artificial intelligence—The term generated by artificial intelligence means audio or video audio that is created, in whole or in part, by a computer-based learning algorithm that is able to successfully mimic the pitch, pace, and tone, or any combination thereof, of an actual person’s voice.”
Criminal penalties— Section 309(d)(1) of the Federal Election Campaign Act of 1971 (52 U.S.C. 30109(d)(1)) is amended by adding at the end the following new subparagraph:
“(E) Any person who knowingly and willfully commits a violation of section 325 shall be fined under title 18, United States Code, or imprisoned for not more than 2 years, or both.”
Regulations— Not later than 90 days after the date of the enactment of this Act, the Commission shall promulgate regulations to provide guidance with respect to—
how to determine if a materially deceptive audio is clearly satire or parody for the purposes of section 325(b) of the Federal Election Campaign Act of 1971, as added by subsection (a); and
what constitutes a clear, conspicuous, and overt disclaimer for the purposes of section 325(c)(1) of the Federal Election Campaign Act of 1971, as added by subsection (a).
Report requirement— Not later than 3 years after the date of the enactment of this Act, and annually thereafter, the Federal Election Commission shall submit a report to the Committee on House Administration of the House of Representatives and the Committee on Rules and Administration of the Senate on—
matters relating to compliance with and the enforcement of the requirements of section 325 of the Federal Election Campaign Act of 1971, as added by subsection (a); and
recommendations for any modifications to such section to ensure compliance with such section.
Effective date— This section and the amendments made by this section shall take effect 90 days after the date of the enactment of this Act.