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REFERENCE TITLE: election communications; deep fakes; prohibition |
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State of Arizona Senate Fifty-sixth Legislature Second Regular Session 2024
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SB 1359 |
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Introduced by Senators Carroll: Bolick, Gowan, Petersen, Shamp
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An Act
amending title 16, chapter 7, article 1, Arizona Revised Statutes, by adding section 16-1023; relating to election communications.
(TEXT OF BILL BEGINS ON NEXT PAGE)
Be it enacted by the Legislature of the State of Arizona:
Section 1. Title 16, chapter 7, article 1, Arizona Revised Statutes, is amended by adding section 16-1023, to read:
16-1023. Deep fakes; candidates; political parties; exemptions; violation; classification; definitions
A. Within ninety days before an election at which a candidate for elected office will appear on the ballot, a person, corporation, committee or other entity shall not distribute a synthetic media message that the person, corporation, committee or other entity knows or should know is a deceptive and fraudulent deepfake of that candidate or of a political party that is on that ballot unless the synthetic media message includes a disclosure that states: "This _____ has been manipulated or generated by artificial intelligence." The blank in the disclosure required by this subsection shall be filled with the one term from the following that most accurately describes the media:
1. Image.
2. Video.
3. Audio.
B. For visual media, the text of the disclosure shall appear in a size that is easily readable by the average viewer and that is no smaller than the largest font size of other text appearing in the visual media. If the visual media does not include any other text, the disclosure shall appear in a size that is easily readable by the average viewer. For visual media that is video, the disclosure shall appear for the duration of the video.
C. If the media consists of audio only, the disclosure shall be read in a clearly spoken manner and in a pitch that can be easily heard by the average listener, at the beginning of the audio, at the end of the audio and, if the audio is longer than two minutes in length, interspersed within the audio at intervals of not more than two minutes each.
D. A candidate whose appearance, action or speech is depicted through the use of a deceptive and fraudulent deepfake in violation of this section may seek injunctive or other equitable relief prohibiting the publication of the deceptive and fraudulent deepfake.
E. This section does not apply to:
1. A radio or television broadcasting station, including a cable or satellite television operator, programmer or producer:
(a) That broadcasts a deceptive and fraudulent deepfake that is prohibited by this section and that is part of a bona fide newscast, news interview or news documentary or on-the-spot coverage of bona fide news events, if the broadcast clearly acknowledges through its content or a disclosure in a manner that can be easily heard or read by the average listener or viewer that there are questions about the authenticity of the materially deceptive audio or visual media.
(b) When it is paid to broadcast a deceptive and fraudulent deepfake and has made a good faith effort to establish that the depiction is not a deceptive and fraudulent deepfake.
2. 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 or visual media that is prohibited by this section if the publication clearly states that the materially deceptive audio or visual media does not accurately represent the speech or conduct of the candidate.
3. Media that constitutes satire or parody.
F. A person who violates subsection A of this section is guilty of a class 1 misdemeanor, except that:
1. A person who commits the violation within five years of one or more prior convictions under this section is guilty of a class 4 felony.
2. A person who commits the violation with the intent to cause violence or bodily harm is guilty of a class 6 felony.
G. For the purposes of this section:
1. "Deceptive and fraudulent deepfake" means synthetic media that depicts a candidate or political party with the intent to injure the reputation of the candidate or political party or otherwise deceive a voter and that either:
(a) Appears to a reasonable person to depict a real individual saying or doing something that did not actually occur in reality.
(b) Provides to a reasonable person a fundamentally different understanding or impression of the appearance, action or speech in an image, audio recording or video recording than a reasonable person would have from an unaltered, original version of the image, audio recording or video recording.
2. "Synthetic media" means an image, audio recording or video recording of an individual's appearance, speech or conduct that has been created or intentionally manipulated with the use of generative adversarial network techniques or other digital technology in a manner to create a realistic but false image, audio or video.
Sec. 2. Severability
If a provision of this act or its application to any person or circumstance is held invalid, the invalidity does not affect other provisions or applications of the act that can be given effect without the invalid provision or application, and to this end the provisions of this act are severable.