Congresswoman Brown Leads Letter Urging FEC to Classify AI Deepfakes as Fraudulent Misrepresentation

Washington, D.C. – Today, Congresswoman Shontel Brown (OH-11) led a letter to the Federal Election Commission (FEC) supporting Public Citizen’s petition to clarify  that federal law prohibiting fraudulent misrepresentation applies to deceptive Artificial Intelligence (AI)-generated political campaign communication.

Congresswoman Brown’s letter has been signed by Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton (DC – at large), Congresswoman Nikema Williams (GA-05), Congressman Dan Goldman (NY-10), Congressman Greg Landsman (OH-01), Congresswoman Summer L. Lee (PA-12), and Congressman Seth Magaziner (RI-02), and is endorsed by Public Citizen.

Current law prohibits candidates for federal office or an employee or their agent from producing fraudulent misrepresentations. The FEC is expected to resume discussions for oversight at its next meeting on Thursday, August 29.

This issue has become even more critical in recent weeks. On August 14, 2024, X (formerly Twitter) released the newest version of its AI chatbot and image generator Grok-2, with few rules to combat its misuse, leading to an immediate proliferation of fake campaign images. Deceptive depictions included fake endorsements of the Trump campaign by Taylor Swift, which was outrageously spread and proliferated by candidate Trump.

In June, Congresswoman Brown introduced The Securing Elections from AI Deception Act, legislation to prohibit the use of artificial intelligence (AI) to deprive or defraud individuals of their right to vote and require disclaimers on AI-generated content. 

“While electoral disinformation campaigns and voter suppression are not new in this country, AI has the potential to supercharge deception in an ecosystem already rife with false content,” said Congresswoman Shontel M. Brown. “Twitter and Elon Musk have the responsibility to implement and require responsible use of its AI technology and, if not, the FEC must urgently step in to prevent further electoral fraud, especially by one of the two major candidates for president of the United States.”

“Extraordinary advances in artificial intelligence now provide political operatives with the means to produce campaign ads with computer-generated fake images or voices of candidates that appear real-life, fraudulently misrepresenting what candidates do or say. These disinformation ads are further fostering public distrust in the integrity of elections. The FEC is shirking its responsibility to keep elections honest and fair by refusing to require disclaimers on deepfake ads that what voters are seeing and hearing is not real,” said Craig Holman, Ph.D., Public Citizen. 

The letter reads as follows:

Lisa J. Stevenson, Acting General Counsel

Federal Election Commission

1050 First Street, N.E.
Washington, D.C. 20463

Ms. Stevenson,

As Members of Congress, we are committed to the safety and integrity of our election and democracy. We are writing to offer our support for Public Citizen’s Petition for Rulemaking to Clarify the Law Against Fraudulent Misrepresentation. Public Citizen is petitioning the Federal Election Commission (FEC) to clarify that 52 U.S.C. § 30124 includes deep fakes of an election candidate as a fraudulent misrepresentation.

As you know, 52 U.S.C. §30124 prohibits a candidate for federal office or an employee or agent of a candidate from fraudulently misrepresenting themselves, committee, or organization under their control.^[1] This election cycle we have seen candidates use Artificial Intelligence (AI) in campaign ads to depict themselves or another candidate engaged in an action that did not happen or saying something the depicted candidate did not say.

On August 14, 2024, X (formerly Twitter) introduced their AI image generator Grok-2 with few rules to combat its misuse.^[2] In fact, there are no policies that would allow the platform to restrict images of public figures that could be potentially misleading. Less than 24 hours after its debut, fake images of presidential candidates Kamala Harris and Donald Trump and former President Obama appeared on X. Candidate Trump has even gone as far as promoting false endorsements from celebrities like Taylor Swift on his social media platforms.^[3]

The proliferation of deep-fake AI technology has the potential to severely misinform voters, causing confusion and disseminating dangerous falsehoods. It is critical for our democracy that this be promptly addressed, noting the degree to which Grok-2 has already been used to distribute fake content regarding the 2024 presidential election.

We respectfully request the Commission expeditiously consider these recommendations and initiate the necessary emergency rulemaking process.  We look forward to your response and working together to protect the integrity of our electoral system.

Sincerely,

[Signatures]