25 States Enact Laws to Regulate Election Deepfakes
Newly enacted law makes Montana the 25th state to enact AI deepfake election protections
Washington, D.C. — Half of all U.S. states now have laws on the books to protect voters from political deepfakes in election communications. Just five states had enacted laws on the subject prior to 2024 — the 20 additional states have done so since January 2024, according to Public Citizen’s tracker.
State progress on this issue has been proactive and bipartisan. Meanwhile, at the federal level, Congress has not only failed to pass federal protections against AI-generated campaign deepfakes, but is also actively threatening to undo the work that states have done on the issue. This week, the House Energy and Commerce Committee will mark up a budget reconciliation proposal that includes a dangerous provision that would strip states of their ability to enact and enforce critical safeguards against AI-related harms for the next decade.
“We saw a massive surge in the passage of election deepfake legislation in 2024 ahead of the November election — but it has been incredibly heartening to see the rapid progress on these bills continue even without a major federal election looming,” said Ilana Beller, a democracy advocate with Public Citizen. “As deepfake technology gets more realistic by the day, the potential for a deepfake to go viral and sow widespread chaos ahead of an election only grows. Thankfully, half of U.S. states now have protections to make that nightmare less likely — the remaining half of states — and Congress — should follow suit.”
To learn more about Public Citizen’s work to regulate AI deepfakes, see our state bills tracker (updated regularly) or visit www.citizen.org/ai.