Senate committee reviews S.23, a proposal to require disclosure for synthetic media targeting candidates within 90 days of elections

Rick Sainville of the Office of Legislative Council told the Senate Committee on Government Operations on Jan. 28 that S.23 would regulate synthetic media—images, audio or video created or intentionally manipulated with digital technology—to address deceptive representations of candidates intended to injure reputation, influence an election or otherwise deceive voters.

Sainville said the draft defines “deceptive and fraudulent synthetic media” as material that “appears to a reasonable person to represent an individual saying or doing something that did not occur or provides a reasonable person with a fundamentally different understanding or impression” than an unaltered original. The bill would prohibit publishing, communicating or distributing such material within 90 days of an election in which the person appears on the ballot unless the synthetic media includes a clear disclosure, for example: “This media has been created or…