Twenty States Enact Laws to Regulate Political Deepfakes

October 16, 2024

Twenty States Enact Laws to Regulate Political Deepfakes

Newly enacted law makes Delaware the 20th state to enact AI deepfake election protections

Washington, D.C. - When the governor of Delaware signed HB 316into law, Delaware became the 20th state to enact a law regulating AI deepfakes in campaign communications. Just five states had enacted laws on the subject prior to 2024 - the 15 additional states have done so just this year, according to Public Citizen's state bills tracker.

State progress on this issue has been proactive and bipartisan, but, at the federal level, protections against AI-generated campaign deepfakes remain nonexistent. After stalling for over a year on a petition from Public Citizen, the Federal Election Commission (FEC) recently decided not to move with rulemaking. The FCC has taken promising steps to address the subject for broadcast and radio communications, but won't be able to do so by November.

"Less than a month out from the 2024 election, the potential remains for a political deepfake to go viral and sow widespread chaos and confusion," said Ilana Beller, a democracy advocate with Public Citizen. "Thankfully,state lawmakers across the country have taken this threat seriously, acting with urgency and bipartisan cooperation to make sure legislation is in place before November. Federal officials should follow their lead, and make sure we don't leave future elections vulnerable."

To learn more about Public Citizen's work to regulate AI deepfakes in 2024 and beyond, see our state bills tracker(updated regularly) or visit www.citizen.org/ai.