Bill > S2322

Introduced Session

This bill would prohibit a person or other entity, within 60 days of any election at which a candidate for elective public office will appear on the ballot, from distributing with actual malice materially deceptive audio or visual media content of the candidate with the intent to injure the candidate's reputation or to deceive a voter into voting for or against the candidate, unless the content includes a disclosure stating that the content has been manipulated. The bill would expire on January 1, 2022. The bill defines "materially deceptive audio or visual media content" to mean an image or audio or video recording of a candidate's appearance, speech, or conduct that has been intentionally manipulated in a manner such that the image or audio or video recording would falsely appear to a reasonable person to be authentic and would cause a reasonable person to have a fundamentally different understanding or impression of the expressive content of the image or audio or video recording than that person would have if the person were hearing or seeing the unaltered, original version of the image or audio or video recording. The bill would authorize, until January 1, 2022, a candidate for elective public office whose voice or likeness appears in audio or visual media content distributed in violation of the bill to seek injunctive or other equitable relief prohibiting the distribution of the deceptive audio or visual media content. It would also authorize a candidate whose voice or likeness appears in the deceptive audio or visual media to bring an action for general or special damages against the person or other entity that distributed the content, and would authorize the court to award a prevailing party reasonable attorney's fees and costs. The bill would provide exemptions for all of the following: (1) a radio or television broadcasting station, including a cable or satellite television operator, programmer, or producer, when it is paid to broadcast materially deceptive audio or visual media content; (2) materially deceptive audio or visual media content that constitutes satire or parody, (3) a radio or television broadcasting station, including a cable or satellite television operator, programmer, or producer, that broadcasts materially deceptive audio or visual media content as part of a bona fide newscast, news interview, news documentary, or on-the-spot coverage of bona fide news events, if the broadcast clearly acknowledges through content or a disclosure that there are questions about the authenticity of the materially deceptive audio or visual media content; and (4) 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 the materially deceptive audio or visual media content, if the publication clearly states that the materially deceptive audio or visual media content does not accurately represent the speech or conduct of the candidate.

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Vin Gopal (D)*, 

Introduced in the Senate, Referred to Senate State Government, Wagering, Tourism & Historic Preservation Committee (on 04/09/2020)