Deepfakes in Federal Elections Prohibition Act

I 116TH CONGRESS 2D SESSION H. R. 6088 To amend the Federal Election Campaign Act of 1971 to prohibit the dis- tribution of materially deceptive audio or visual media prior to an election for Federal office, and for other purposes. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES MARCH 4, 2020 Mr. LYNCH (for himself, Mr. DESAULNIER, Mr. WELCH, and Mr. COOPER) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on House Administration A BILL To amend the Federal Election Campaign Act of 1971 to prohibit the distribution of materially deceptive audio or visual media prior to an election for Federal office, and for other purposes. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa- 1 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Deepfakes in Federal 4 Elections Prohibition Act’’. 5 VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:38 Mar 06, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H6088.IH H6088 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 2 •HR 6088 IH SEC. 2. PROHIBITION ON DISTRIBUTION OF MATERIALLY 1 DECEPTIVE AUDIO OR VISUAL MEDIA PRIOR 2 TO ELECTION. 3 (a) IN GENERAL.—Title III of the Federal Election 4 Campaign Act of 1971 (52 U.S.C. 30101 et seq.) is 5 amended by adding at the end the following new section: 6 ‘‘SEC. 325. PROHIBITION ON DISTRIBUTION OF MATERI- 7 ALLY DECEPTIVE MEDIA PRIOR TO ELEC- 8 TION. 9 ‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—Except as provided in sub- 10 sections (b) and (c), a person, political committee, or other 11 entity shall not, within 60 days of a election for Federal 12 office at which a candidate for elective office will appear 13 on the ballot, distribute, with actual malice, materially de- 14 ceptive audio or visual media of the candidate with the 15 intent to injure the candidate’s reputation or to deceive 16 a voter into voting for or against the candidate. 17 ‘‘(b) EXCEPTION.— 18 ‘‘(1) REQUIRED LANGUAGE.—The prohibition 19 in subsection (a) does not apply if the audio or vis- 20 ual media includes— 21 ‘‘(A) a disclosure stating: ‘‘This 22 lllll has been manipulated.’’; and 23 ‘‘(B) filled in the blank in the disclosure 24 under subparagraph (A), the term ‘image’, 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:38 Mar 06, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H6088.IH H6088 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 3 •HR 6088 IH ‘video’, or ‘audio’, as most accurately describes 1 the media. 2 ‘‘(2) VISUAL MEDIA.—For visual media, the 3 text of the disclosure shall appear in a size that is 4 easily readable by the average viewer and no smaller 5 than the largest font size of other text appearing in 6 the visual media. If the visual media does not in- 7 clude any other text, the disclosure shall appear in 8 a size that is easily readable by the average viewer. 9 For visual media that is video, the disclosure shall 10 appear for the duration of the video. 11 ‘‘(3) AUDIO-ONLY MEDIA.—If the media con- 12 sists of audio only, the disclosure shall be read in a 13 clearly spoken manner and in a pitch that can be 14 easily heard by the average listener, at the beginning 15 of the audio, at the end of the audio, and, if the 16 audio is greater than two minutes in length, inter- 17 spersed within the audio at intervals of not greater 18 than two minutes each. 19 ‘‘(c) INAPPLICABILITY TO CERTAIN ENTITIES.—This 20 section does not apply to the following: 21 ‘‘(1) A radio or television broadcasting station, 22 including a cable or satellite television operator, pro- 23 grammer, or producer, that broadcasts materially 24 deceptive audio or visual media prohibited by this 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:38 Mar 06, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H6088.IH H6088 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 4 •HR 6088 IH section as part of a bona fide newscast, news inter- 1 view, news documentary, or on-the-spot coverage of 2 bona fide news events, if the broadcast clearly ac- 3 knowledges through content or a disclosure, in a 4 manner that can be easily heard or read by the aver- 5 age listener or viewer, that there are questions about 6 the authenticity of the materially deceptive audio or 7 visual media. 8 ‘‘(2) A radio or television broadcasting station, 9 including a cable or satellite television operator, pro- 10 grammer, or producer, when it is paid to broadcast 11 materially deceptive audio or visual media. 12 ‘‘(3) An internet website, or a regularly pub- 13 lished newspaper, magazine, or other periodical of 14 general circulation, including an internet or elec- 15 tronic publication, that routinely carries news and 16 commentary of general interest, and that publishes 17 materially deceptive audio or visual media prohibited 18 by this section, if the publication clearly states that 19 the materially deceptive audio or visual media does 20 not accurately represent the speech or conduct of the 21 candidate. 22 ‘‘(4) Materially deceptive audio or visual media 23 that constitutes satire or parody. 24 ‘‘(d) CIVIL ACTION.— 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:38 Mar 06, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H6088.IH H6088 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 5 •HR 6088 IH ‘‘(1) INJUNCTIVE OR OTHER EQUITABLE RE- 1 LIEF.—A candidate for elective office whose voice or 2 likeness appears in a materially deceptive audio or 3 visual media distributed in violation of this section 4 may seek injunctive or other equitable relief prohib- 5 iting the distribution of audio or visual media in vio- 6 lation of this section. An action under this para- 7 graph shall be entitled to precedence in accordance 8 with the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure. 9 ‘‘(2) DAMAGES.—A candidate for elective office 10 whose voice or likeness appears in a materially de- 11 ceptive audio or visual media distributed in violation 12 of this section may bring an action for general or 13 special damages against the person, committee, or 14 other entity that distributed the materially deceptive 15 audio or visual media. The court may also award a 16 prevailing party reasonable attorney’s fees and costs. 17 This paragraph shall not be construed to limit or 18 preclude a plaintiff from securing or recovering any 19 other available remedy. 20 ‘‘(3) BURDEN OF PROOF.—In any civil action 21 alleging a violation of this section, the plaintiff shall 22 bear the burden of establishing the violation through 23 clear and convincing evidence. 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:38 Mar 06, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H6088.IH H6088 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 6 •HR 6088 IH ‘‘(e) RULE OF CONSTRUCTION.—This section shall 1 not be construed to alter or negate any rights, obligations, 2 or immunities of an interactive service provider under sec- 3 tion 230 of title 47, United States Code. 4 ‘‘(f) MATERIALLY DECEPTIVE AUDIO OR VISUAL 5 MEDIA DEFINED.—In this section, the term ‘materially 6 deceptive audio or visual media’ means an image or an 7 audio or video recording of a candidate’s appearance, 8 speech, or conduct that has been intentionally manipulated 9 in a manner such that both of the following conditions 10 are met: 11 ‘‘(1) The image or audio or video recording 12 would falsely appear to a reasonable person to be 13 authentic. 14 ‘‘(2) The image or audio or video recording 15 would cause a reasonable person to have a fun- 16 damentally different understanding or impression of 17 the expressive content of the image or audio or video 18 recording than that person would have if the person 19 were hearing or seeing the unaltered, original 20 version of the image or audio or video recording.’’. 21 (b) CRIMINAL PENALTIES.—Section 309(d)(1) of the 22 Federal Election Campaign Act of 1971 (52 U.S.C. 23 30109(d)(1)) is amended by adding at the end the fol- 24 lowing new subparagraph: 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:38 Mar 06, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H6088.IH H6088 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 7 •HR 6088 IH ‘‘(G) Any person who knowingly and will- 1 fully commits a violation of section 325 shall be 2 fined not more than $100,000, imprisoned not 3 more than 5 years, or both.’’. 4 (c) EFFECT ON DEFAMATION ACTION.—For pur- 5 poses of an action for defamation, a violation of section 6 325 of the Federal Election Campaign Act of 1971, as 7 added by subsection (a), shall constitute defamation per 8 se. 9 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:38 Mar 06, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\H6088.IH H6088 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS