[Congressional Bills 118th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 4611 Introduced in House (IH)]

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118th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 4611

  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.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                             July 13, 2023

Mr. Espaillat 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, 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.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Candidate Voice Fraud Prohibition 
Act''.

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.

    (a) 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:

``SEC. 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.''.
    (b) 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.''.
    (c) 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--
            (1) 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
            (2) 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).
    (d) 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--
            (1) 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
            (2) recommendations for any modifications to such section 
        to ensure compliance with such section.
    (e) 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.
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