The Bill passed the House three weeks ago before arriving on the Governor’s desk.
The new legislation passed the Pennsylvania House three weeks ago in a unanimous vote and will classify some deepfakes as digital forgery. Deepfakes have become increasingly popular in the last year since the emergence of Artificial Intelligence. Under the new law, any AI deepfakes will be counted as a misdemeanor, while deepfakes with fraudulent or malicious intent is a third-degree felony.
The intent behind the original bill was to cut down on deepfakes used in political campaign ads but could apply to any improper use of AI online. The bill requires any candidate running for office to disclose any use of AI to mimic the physical appearance or voice. Failure to disclose deepfakes will now result in a fine for every day that the advertisement continues to run. Fines could reach as high as $15,000 per day in state elections, or higher in federal elections. The bill was co-sponsored by state Rep. Tarik Khan (D-Phila) and state Rep. Jeremy Shaffer (R-Allegheny).
“All voters must have confidence in elections,” Shaffer said. “This piece of legislation is a proactive approach to help protect our electoral system. Currently, there are limited laws regulating the use of artificial intelligence. The integrity of our elections is foundational to our government, and this is one small step to help protect our system.”
The bill signed by Gov. Shapiro is an expansion of similar legislation passed in October 2024 and made Pennsylvania the 38th state to approve a statewide crackdown on improper uses of Artificial Intelligence. Eighty laws across were enacted in 2024 with similar motives, while an additional 15 were signed in 2023. State Sen. Tracy Montgomery (R-Montgomery) said the initial intent behind the bill was to ban deepfake pornography.
“This law gives law enforcement the tools they need to fight this digital deception, yet does so in a responsible manner, protecting First Amendment rights and preserving valid expressions of parody, satire and other forms of free speech,” said Sen. Montgomery after the governor signed it into law last Tuesday. The law was further commended by Republican state Attorney General Dave Sunday, who filed the first charges against individuals using deepfake pornography last April. All iterations of the bill have received significant bipartisan support, which Gov. Shapiro lauded in his statement.
Cases involving deepfakes in political campaigns are not new and have increased in prevalence recently. In perhaps the most high-profile example, a New Hampshire man was accused of using AI to simulate a fake phone recording of former President Joe Biden calling voters in New Hampshire to tell them not to vote in the upcoming state presidential primary. Other digital scams have been used to target senior citizens in particular, which prompted Sen. Bob Casey (D-PA) to push for increased consumer protection laws.
Previous efforts to essentially ban the use of deepfakes in political campaigns have faced uphill battles on the grounds of free speech concerns, something both Democrats and Republicans considered not a factor in the most recent legislation. In 2021, a Pennsylvania lawmaker was unable to advance legislation due to state federal first amendment protections in political campaigns.
