With 2024 Election Cycle Underway, FEC’s Silence on AI Deepfakes is Unacceptable

It has now been three months since the FEC closed its comment period on Public Citizen’s petition for a new rule to regulate the use of generative AI deepfakes in election ads. Despite the urgency posed by the rapidly approaching 2024 election, the FEC has yet to make a decision on whether or not to proceed with rulemaking.

Robert Weissman, the president of Public Citizen, issued the following statement in response:

“Do we have a real Federal Election Commission, or is the FEC just a computer-generated illusion? The entire political world knows that a torrent of fraudulent deepfakes threatens to destabilize our fragile election system — maybe even decide elections — but so far the FEC hasn’t managed to use its existing authority to head off the problem.

"It’s time, past time, for the FEC to act. There’s no partisan interest here, it’s just a matter of choosing democracy over fraud and chaos.”