SACRAMENTO, CA — Today the Legislature passed AB 2655, authored by Assemblymember Berman (D-Menlo Park), which will protect election integrity by requiring large online platforms to remove, after receipt of a complaint, the posting of deceptive and digitally altered or created images, audio, or video recordings meant to give the impression that a candidate or elected official did or said something they did not do or say. This bill, which is narrowly tailored to apply close to an election, is an essential step to protect California voters – and our democracy – from the real and growing threat of disinformation that is turbocharged by generative AI and deepfakes.
“We have entered the age of AI-generated disinformation, which poses a severe risk to our elections and our democracy. Deepfakes are a powerful and dangerous tool in the arsenal of those who want to wage disinformation campaigns, and they have the potential to wreak havoc on our democracy by attributing speech and conduct to a person that is false or that never happened," said Assemblymember Marc Berman. "AB 2655 will ensure that online platforms restrict the spread of election-related deceptive deepfakes meant to deceive or disenfranchise voters based on fraudulent content. Advances in AI over the last few years make it too easy for practically anyone to generate this hyper-realistic content. AB 2655’s passage through the Legislature is a win for California’s voters, and for our democracy."
"The social media platforms who profit so mightily off of hosting our democratic discourse as a nation have a responsibility to take the modest steps necessary to protect that discourse, and to make sure voters are not being deceived and defrauded," said Jonathan Mehta Stein, Executive Director of California Common Cause and the Board Chair at the California Initiative for Technology and Democracy. "The passage of AB 2655 brings us one step closer to healthy information ecosystems and a digital democracy that serves the people."
If signed by the Governor, AB 2655 will create a process to ensure that online platforms restrict the spread of election-related deceptive deepfakes. Specifically, the bill would require a large online platform, in the run up to an election, to remove specific deceptive content intended to defraud voters and undermine confidence in elections, upon receipt of a complaint, for a period of time before an election. Moreover, there is a need to educate voters about less harmful yet still materially deceptive content at times less proximate to an election. Therefore, AB 2655 would require large online platforms, in response to a complaint, to label materially deceptive content that is outside the timeframe for removal or in an advertisement or election communication not subject to the removal.
Since 2020, voters have seen disinformation pollute our politics more than ever, and now with AI-generated deepfakes becoming a routine part of our information ecosystems, the issue is rapidly intensifying. We have already seen deepfakes destabilizing national elections in Argentina, Slovakia, Taiwan, Bangladesh, and the US presidential primary. Just as this problem is peaking, many technology and social media platforms are decreasing their investments in their trust and safety teams and walking away from any responsibility to address it. Voters are now left to pick up the pieces, not knowing what images, audio, and video they can trust.
AB 2655 is sponsored by the California Initiative for Technology and Democracy, a project of California Common Cause. CITED is an independent and interdisciplinary source of research, analysis, policy recommendations, and public leadership on the emerging digital threats facing voters and democracy. Visit CITED.tech for more.
Contact: Bermanpress@asm.ca.gov