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Bill would add 'synthetic media' to fraud prohibition for election‑targeted misrepresentations
Summary
Delegate Feldmark’s proposal seeks to add fraud to the list of prohibited means to influence how people vote, explicitly defining fraud to include synthetic media or deepfakes; supporters urged quick action and asked for tight definitions to avoid chilling protected speech or satire.
Delegate Jessica Feldmark introduced House Bill 525 to close a statutory gap: existing Maryland law makes it illegal to use force, threat, menace, intimidation, bribery or reward to influence whether a person votes, and it separately prohibits those methods to influence how a person votes (for whom they vote). The bill adds "fraud" to the list of prohibited methods for influencing how people vote and expressly defines fraud to include synthetic media or deepfakes used to mislead voters.
"Those two provisions are strikingly similar but ... why would fraud be prohibited for influencing a voter's decision to vote but not be prohibited in…
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