Senate committee weighs S.23 disclosure rules for synthetic media in elections

The Senate Government Operations Committee on Feb. 4 heard testimony on S.23, legislation that would require disclosure of synthetic media used in elections and create a private right to seek injunctive relief. Supporters framed the bill as a disclosure regime designed to protect voters, while broadcasters warned of conflicts with Federal Communications Commission rules and urged clarifying edits.

Elana Beller, organizing manager for Public Citizen, testified in strong support of S.23, outlining the bill’s key design choices and offering national context. “I am very grateful to be able to testify in strong support of s 23 today,” Beller said. She defined a deepfake for the committee as “a representation generated through technology, frequently artificial intelligence … that shows either via an image, video, or through audio, someone saying or doing something that they never actually did or said in real life.”

Beller told senators the draft follows what she described as a widely used model in other states: a narrow definition of falsified media that targets content providing viewers a “fundamentally different understanding” of a person’s speech or behavior, a disclosure requirement rather than an outright ban, and a…