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Broadcaster’s testimony helps advance bill criminalizing nonconsensual intimate deepfakes
Summary
After testimony from local meteorologist Bree Smith about repeated impersonation and extortion, the subcommittee voted to send House Bill 1299, which would criminalize creating and distributing intimate deepfakes without consent, to full judiciary.
House Bill 1299, sponsored by Representative Powell, would make the nonconsensual creation and distribution of sexually explicit “deepfake” images and videos a criminal offense in Tennessee. The sponsor told the committee the bill is intended to protect victims of increasingly sophisticated artificial‑intelligence‑generated sexual images and video used to extort, humiliate or coerce.
Bree (Brie) Smith, who identified herself as a Nashville meteorologist and Sumner County resident, described dozens of fake social‑media accounts and manipulated images and videos that used her face and name to attempt to extort followers. In committee testimony she said impostor accounts directed followers to private‑chat applications to solicit money, and that social platforms were slow or unhelpful in removing accounts.
“Discovering these imposter accounts and seeing the degrading fake images and videos was devastating to me,” Smith told the committee. She said the attacks depressed her and threatened the safety and reputation of her children. She asked lawmakers for a statutory remedy because existing options she pursued — reporting to platforms and employers — were insufficient.
Several members expressed sympathy and support; Leader Lambert said the problem is growing and urged action. Representative Powell said other states have adopted similar laws and recommended Tennessee add protections. After testimony and discussion, the subcommittee voted 7–0 to send the amended bill to full judiciary.
Votes at a glance: House Bill 1299 — Sent to full judiciary, 7–0.
Next steps: The bill moves to full judiciary for markup. Sponsors said technical edits remain under discussion to address telecom industry concerns that were raised during drafting.
