Ahead of the high-stakes 2020 presidential election, state lawmakers are moving toward regulating deepfakes, which are essentially fraudulent audio or video content created by AI technology.
On Oct. 3, California joined Texas in passing measures amending state election codes to combat deepfakes that may influence voting before an election. Unlike Texas, California didn’t make creating or sharing deepfakes about election candidates a criminal offense. However, Assembly Bill No. 730 does authorize an election candidate, whose likeness appears in a “materially deceptive audio or visual media,” to bring a civil action against the person or entity that distributed the deepfake 60 days before an election.
