A4163

An Act concerning fraudulent misrepresentation of political candidates, and supplementing P.L.1975, c.190.

Be It Enacted by the Senate and General Assembly of the State of New Jersey:

1. As used in P.L.1975, c.190, and any amendments and supplements thereto:

“Campaign advertisement” means a public advertisement for the purposes of influencing public opinion with respect to legislative, administrative, or electoral matters utilizing a medium that includes mailings, emails, telephone calls, radio, television, billboards, yard signs, or other media.

“Candidate” means” (1) an individual seeking election to a public office of the United States, or of this State or of a county, municipality or school district at an election; except that the term shall not include an individual seeking party office; (2) an individual who shall have been elected or failed of election to an office, other than a party office, for which the individual sought election and who receives contributions and makes expenditures for any of the purposes authorized by section 17 of P.L.1993, c.65 (C.19:44A-11.2) during the period of the individual’s service in that office; and (3) an individual who has received funds or other benefits or has made payments solely for the purpose of determining whether the individual should become a candidate. The term includes a current or former candidate.

“Covered person” means any of the following:

(1) A candidate;

(2) A firm, partnership, corporation, limited liability company, association, organization, or similar entity;

(3) A political committee, including a political action committee, a political party, or a political body;

(4) A political action committee that only receives contributions to make independent expenditures;

(5) A foreign government, including any agency or instrumentality thereof; or

(6) An employee, contractor, or individual acting at the behest of an entity specified under paragraph (1), (2), (3), (4), or (5) herein, or an officer, director, employee, owner, shareholder, or contractor thereof.

“Deepfake” means any video recording, motion picture film, sound recording, electronic image or photograph, or any technological representation of speech or conduct substantially derivative thereof:

(1) that is so realistic that a reasonable person would believe it depicts speech or conduct of an individual who did not in fact engage in the speech or conduct; and

(2) the production of which was substantially dependent upon technical means rather than the ability of another individual to physically or verbally impersonate the individual.

“Digital content provenance” means factual information that details a digital resource’s creator, origin, context, history, and editing process, and conforms to an open industry technical standard.

“Disseminate” means to produce, publish, distribute, broadcast, publicize, display, transmit, or otherwise publicly share.

“Election” means the procedure whereby the electors of this State or any political subdivision thereof elect persons to fill public office or pass on public questions.

“Interactive computer service” means any information service, system, or access software provider that provides or enables computer access by multiple users to a computer server, including specifically a service or system that provides access to the Internet, and such systems operated or services offered by libraries or educational institutions.

“Public office” means any office in the government of the United States, or of this State or any of its political subdivisions, filled at elections by the electors of the State or political subdivision.

2. a. A covered person shall be liable for fraudulent misrepresentation of a candidate for public office if, at any time on or after the date that the candidate establishes a candidate committee or joint candidates committee pursuant to subsection a. of section 9 of P.L.1973, c.83 (C.19:44A-9) or the candidate files a Statement of Candidacy with the Federal Election Commission pursuant to subsection a. of 11 C.F.R. s.101.1, the covered person knowingly and intentionally disseminates or causes to be disseminated a campaign advertisement that contains a deepfake of the candidate.

b. A covered person shall not be liable under subsection a. of this section if the campaign advertisement contains a clear and conspicuous disclosure. The disclosure under this subsection must:

(1) State that the campaign advertisement contains deepfake content of a candidate for public office. The disclosure shall be in substantially the following form:

“This (image/video/sound/content) contains deepfake content and

has been manipulated or generated to depict speech or conduct that did not occur.”;

(2) Be displayed each time the campaign advertisement is presented;

(3) Be presented in a manner reasonably understandable and readily noticeable. The following shall apply:

(a) For content presented in static images, the disclosure shall be in written form, in a size and font that is easily readable by the average viewer, accessible screen readers, and other technology to assist visually impaired users;

(b) For content presented in video formats, the disclosure shall appear for the duration of the video in a format that is easily readable by the average viewer. The disclosure shall be read in a clearly spoken manner and in a pitch and at a speed that can be easily heard by the average listener at the beginning and end of the video; and

(c) For content that consists of only audio, the disclosure shall be read in a clearly spoken manner and in a pitch and at a speed that can be easily heard by the average listener at the beginning and end of the audio and, if the audio is more than two minutes in length, interspersed within the audio at intervals of not more than two minutes each; and

(4) Be in the same language as used in the campaign advertisement. For content presented in static images or video formats, if the language used is not English, the disclosure must appear in both the language used and in English.

c. A covered person shall ensure that content in a campaign advertisement containing a disclosure under subsection b. of this section carries an embedded tamper-evident digital content provenance for the deepfake content that discloses:

(1) The initial authority and creator of the content;

(2) Any subsequent entities that exited, altered, or otherwise modified the content; and

(3) Any use of digital technology in generating or modifying the substantive content.

d. Nothing in this section shall be construed to apply to any of the following:

(1) A law enforcement officer engaged in the performance of the law enforcement officer’s official duties;

(2) A streaming service or radio or television broadcaster, including a cable or satellite television operator, programmer, or producer that disseminates a campaign advertisement provided by another person;

(3) A newspaper, magazine, or other periodical, including an Internet or electronic publication, which routinely carries news and commentary of general interest and that disseminates a campaign advertisement provided by another person;

(4) An entity under paragraph (2) or (3) of this subsection when the entity is paid to disseminate a campaign advertisement with the consent of the candidate as specified under subsection d. of section 3 of P.L. , c. (C. ) (pending before the Legislature as this bill);

(5) An interactive computer service;

(6) An Internet service provider, cloud storage service provider, cybersecurity provider, communication service provider, or telecommunications network;

(7) Content that constitutes satire or parody which is substantially dependent on the ability of an individual to impersonate a candidate physically or verbally and not upon technology; or

(8) The provider or developer of the technology used in the creation of the deepfake.

e. Nothing in this section shall be construed to:

(1) restrict the ability of a covered person to detect, prevent, respond to, or protect against security incidents, identity theft, fraud, harassment, malicious or deceptive activities, or any illegal activity, preserve the integrity or security of computer systems, or investigate, report, or prosecute those responsible for any such action; or

(2) limit or preclude a candidate from securing or recovering any other available remedies at law or in equity.

3. a. In addition to the penalties established pursuant to section 5 of P.L.1975, c.190 (C.19:34-68), a candidate for public office aggrieved by a covered person under section 2 of P.L. , c. (C. ) (pending before the Legislature as this bill) may bring a civil action against the covered person in a court of competent jurisdiction and shall be entitled to recover punitive damages, reasonable attorneys’ fees, and other reasonably related litigation costs incurred relating to the civil action. Upon a showing of cause for the issuance of injunctive relief, a court may issue a temporary restraining order, preliminary injunction, or permanent injunction as the court deems appropriate. During any period that a civil action under this subsection is pending, a court may order the immediate removal of the campaign advertisement, cessation of the activity forming the basis of the complaint, or a prohibition of campaign advertisement expenditures.

b. (1) In addition to any other judgment or relief awarded under subsection a. of this section to an aggrieved candidate for public office, a court may, for each campaign advertisement containing unique deepfake content, impose a civil penalty on the covered person for each day the fraudulent misrepresentation is disseminated in an amount up to:

(a) $15,000 per day when the campaign advertisement contains unique deepfake content of a candidate for a municipal or county public office;

(b) $50,000 per day when the campaign advertisement contains unique deepfake content of a candidate for the Legislature, Governor, or Lieutenant Governor; and

(c) $250,000 per day when the campaign advertisement contains unique deepfake content of a candidate for President of the United States, Vice President of the United States, presidential elector, the United States Senate, or the United States House of Representatives.

(2) For a covered person that is a political action committee that only receives contributions to make independent expenditures, the court may impose twice the amounts specified under paragraph (1) of this subsection on the covered person.

c. If a court determines that a civil action brought under this section is frivolous, the court shall issue an order suspending the covered person’s obligation to respond to the civil action and shall order the candidate to show cause why the civil action should not be dismissed. If the candidate fails to respond to the court or the candidate’s response to the court confirms that the civil action is frivolous, the court shall dismiss the civil action and may award reasonable attorneys’ fees and other reasonably related litigation costs incurred relating to the civil action to the covered person and may impose appropriate sanctions against the candidate and the candidate’s attorney.

d. It shall be a defense to a civil action brought under this section that the covered person disseminated the campaign advertisement containing deepfake content with the consent of the candidate if the covered person who disseminated the campaign advertisement can establish that the candidate has given the candidate’s express, written consent.

4. This act shall take effect immediately.

STATEMENT

This bill supplements the “Fair Campaign Practices Act,” P.L.1975, c.190, by providing for a civil cause of action for campaign advertisements containing “deepfake” misrepresentations of candidates generated by artificial intelligence technology.

The bill defines “deepfake” as any video recording, motion picture film, sound recording, electronic image or photograph, or any technological representation of speech or conduct substantially derivative thereof: (1) that is so realistic that a reasonable person would believe it depicts speech or conduct of an individual who did not in fact engage in the speech or conduct; and (2) the production of which was substantially dependent upon technical means rather than the ability of another individual to physically or verbally impersonate the individual. The bill applies to all candidates, corporate entities, political action committees, political parties, and any employee, contractor, or individual acting at the behest of a candidate or covered entity.

Under the bill, a covered person is liable for fraudulent misrepresentation of a candidate if the covered person knowingly and intentionally disseminates a campaign advertisement containing a deepfake, and provides an exemption if the advertisement clearly discloses that it contains deepfake content. A candidate is protected under the bill from the date that the candidate establishes a candidate committee under State law, or the date that the candidate files a Statement of Candidacy with the Federal Election Commission under federal law.

A candidate for office may bring a civil action against a covered person if aggrieved by a campaign advertisement containing deepfake content and may be entitled to recover punitive damages. During any period while a civil action is pending, a court may order the immediate removal of the campaign advertisement in question or prohibit the making of any campaign advertisement expenditure. A court may additionally impose civil penalties for each campaign advertisement containing unique deepfake content, in an amount of up to $15,000 per day related to campaigns for municipal or county public office, $50,000 per day for State public office, and $250,000 for federal public office.

The bill would not apply to: law enforcement officers in their official duties; streaming services and television, radio, cable, or satellite broadcasters; newspapers, magazines, and periodicals; interactive computer services; Internet service providers; providers of cloud storage, cybersecurity, or communication services; telecommunications networks; providers or developers of artificial intelligence technology; or content that constitutes satire or parody.

This bill is substantially based upon Pennsylvania bill H.B.811, passed by the Pennsylvania House of Representatives on June 23, 2025.