Common Cause Pennsylvania is advocating for the passage of House Bill 811, which mandates disclosure for political deepfakes in campaign advertisements. The bill seeks to make political candidates, campaigns, and PACs civilly liable if they use a deepfake without disclosing it or obtaining consent from the depicted candidate.
Philip Hensley-Robin, Pennsylvania Executive Director of Common Cause, emphasized the importance of this legislation by stating: “Democracy depends on an informed citizenry, with a shared understanding of the facts. New technologies which allow candidates to be impersonated in a way that is indistinguishable from reality threaten to undermine that shared understanding.” He added that the bill aims to clarify what is real and what is an artificially generated deepfake for Pennsylvanians, aiding them in discerning the truth and holding elected officials accountable.
Hensley-Robin further noted: “While we need more guardrails on this technology, this bill is an important first step to ensure that political actors are prevented from using this technology irresponsibly.”
