31 US States Pass Laws Curbing Political Deepfakes

State lawmakers in 31 U.S. states have passed bipartisan laws making the dissemination of deceptive AI-generated political content a civil and criminal offense. These regulations require that realistic AI content depicting candidates saying or doing things they did not actually do be prominently labeled, though exceptions exist for satire and unrealistic imagery.

Public Citizen argues these laws established societal norms that prevented the election interference seen in countries like Argentina and Slovakia. A key enforcement example occurred in 2024, when prosecutors in New Hampshire filed charges following a deceptive robocall that impersonated Joe Biden.

While politicians, including Donald Trump, continue to use AI for promotional and attack content, proponents claim state-level regulation has averted nightmare scenarios of undermined election integrity. In contrast, major technology companies are spending hundreds of millions of dollars to lobby against these rules, advocating for federal preemption by arguing that such safeguards derail innovation.