II 

Calendar No. 197 

116TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 2065 

[Report No. 116–93] 

To require the Secretary of Homeland Security to publish an annual report 

on the use of deepfake technology, and for other purposes. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

JULY 9, 2019 

Mr. PORTMAN (for himself, Mr. HEINRICH, Mr. SCHATZ, Mr. GARDNER, Mr. 

ROUNDS, Ms. ERNST, Mr. PETERS, and Ms. HASSAN) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on 

Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs 

SEPTEMBER 10, 2019 

Reported by Mr. JOHNSON, with an amendment 

[Strike out all after the enacting clause and insert the part printed in italic] 

A BILL 

To require the Secretary of Homeland Security to publish 

an annual report on the use of deepfake technology, 

and for other purposes. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 


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1 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

2 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Deepfake Report Act 

3 of 2019’’. 

4 SEC. 2. DEFINITIONS. 

5 In this Act: 

6 (1) DIGITAL CONTENT FORGERY.—The term 

7 ‘‘digital content forgery’’ means the use of emerging 

8 technologies, including artificial intelligence and ma9 chine learning techniques, to fabricate or manipulate 

10 audio, visual, or text content with the intent to mis11 lead. 

12 (2) SECRETARY.—The term ‘‘Secretary’’ means 

13 the Secretary of Homeland Security. 

14 SEC. 3. REPORTS ON DIGITAL CONTENT FORGERY TECH15 NOLOGY. 

16 (a) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 200 days after the 

17 date of enactment of this Act and every 18 months there18 after, the Secretary, acting through the Under Secretary 

19 for Science and Technology, shall produce a report on the 

20 state of digital content forgery technology. 

21 (b) CONTENTS.—Each report produced under sub22 section (a) shall include— 

23 (1) an assessment of the underlying tech24 nologies used to create or propagate digital content 

25 forgeries, including the evolution of such tech26 nologies; 


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1 (2) a description of the types of digital content 

2 forgeries, including use— 

3 (A) by foreign or domestic sources; and 

4 (B) in cyber attacks, pornography, and 

5 media; 

6 (3) an assessment of how foreign governments, 

7 and the proxies and networks thereof, use, or could 

8 use, digital content forgeries to harm national secu9 rity; 

10 (4) an assessment of how non-governmental en11 tities in the United States, use, or could use, digital 

12 content forgeries; 

13 (5) an assessment of the uses, applications, 

14 dangers, and benefits of deep learning technologies 

15 used to generate high fidelity artificial content of 

16 events that did not occur; 

17 (6) an analysis of the methods used to deter18 mine whether content is genuinely created by a 

19 human or through digital content forgery tech20 nology, including an assessment of any effective 

21 heuristics used to make such a determination; 

22 (7) a description of the technological counter23 measures that are, or could be, used to address con24 cerns with digital content forgery technology; 


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1 (8) recommendations regarding whether addi2 tional legal authorities are needed to address the 

3 findings of the report; and 

4 (9) any additional information the Secretary de5 termines appropriate. 

6 (c) CONSULTATION AND PUBLIC HEARINGS.—In pro7 ducing each report required under subsection (a), the Sec8 retary shall— 

9 (1) consult with— 

10 (A) the intelligence community (as defined 

11 in section 3 of the National Security Act of 

12 1947 (50 U.S.C. 3003)); 

13 (B) the Secretary of Defense; 

14 (C) the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of 

15 Staff; 

16 (D) the Department of Justice, Computer 

17 Crime and Intellectual Property Section; 

18 (E) the Office of Science and Technology 

19 Policy; 

20 (F) the National Institute of Standards 

21 and Technology; 

22 (G) the National Science Foundation; 

23 (H) the Federal Election Commission; 

24 (I) the Federal Trade Commission; and 


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1 (J) any other agency of the Federal gov2 ernment that the Secretary considers necessary; 

3 and 

4 (2) conduct public hearings to gather, or other5 wise allow interested parties an opportunity to 

6 present, information and advice relevant to the pro7 duction of the report. 

8 (d) FORM OF REPORT.—Each report produced under 

9 subsection (a) shall be produced in unclassified form, but 

10 may contain a classified annex. 

11 (e) APPLICABILITY OF FOIA.—Nothing in this Act, 

12 or in a report produced under this section, shall be con13 strued to allow the disclosure of information or a record 

14 that is exempt from public disclosure under section 552 

15 of title 5, United States Code. 

16 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

17 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Deepfake Report Act 

18 of 2019’’. 

19 SEC. 2. DEFINITIONS. 

20 In this Act: 

21 (1) DIGITAL CONTENT FORGERY.—The term 

22 ‘‘digital content forgery’’ means the use of emerging 

23 technologies, including artificial intelligence and ma24 chine learning techniques, to fabricate or manipulate 


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1 audio, visual, or text content with the intent to mis2 lead. 

3 (2) SECRETARY.—The term ‘‘Secretary’’ means 

4 the Secretary of Homeland Security. 

5 SEC. 3. REPORTS ON DIGITAL CONTENT FORGERY TECH6 NOLOGY. 

7 (a) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 1 year after the date 

8 of enactment of this Act, and annually thereafter for 5 

9 years, the Secretary, acting through the Under Secretary 

10 for Science and Technology, shall produce a report on the 

11 state of digital content forgery technology. 

12 (b) CONTENTS.—Each report produced under sub13 section (a) shall include— 

14 (1) an assessment of the underlying technologies 

15 used to create or propagate digital content forgeries, 

16 including the evolution of such technologies; 

17 (2) a description of the types of digital content 

18 forgeries, including those used to commit fraud, cause 

19 harm, or violate civil rights recognized under Federal 

20 law; 

21 (3) an assessment of how foreign governments, 

22 and the proxies and networks thereof, use, or could 

23 use, digital content forgeries to harm national secu24 rity; 


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1 (4) an assessment of how non-governmental enti2 ties in the United States use, or could use, digital 

3 content forgeries; 

4 (5) an assessment of the uses, applications, dan5 gers, and benefits of deep learning technologies used 

6 to generate high fidelity artificial content of events 

7 that did not occur, including the impact on individ8 uals; 

9 (6) an analysis of the methods used to determine 

10 whether content is genuinely created by a human or 

11 through digital content forgery technology and an as12 sessment of any effective heuristics used to make such 

13 a determination, as well as recommendations on how 

14 to identify and address suspect content and elements 

15 to provide warnings to users of the content; 

16 (7) a description of the technological counter17 measures that are, or could be, used to address con18 cerns with digital content forgery technology; and 

19 (8) any additional information the Secretary de20 termines appropriate. 

21 (c) CONSULTATION AND PUBLIC HEARINGS.—In pro22 ducing each report required under subsection (a), the Sec23 retary may— 


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1 (1) consult with any other agency of the Federal 

2 Government that the Secretary considers necessary; 

3 and 

4 (2) conduct public hearings to gather, or other5 wise allow interested parties an opportunity to 

6 present, information and advice relevant to the pro7 duction of the report. 

8 (d) FORM OF REPORT.—Each report required under 

9 subsection (a) shall be produced in unclassified form, but 

10 may contain a classified annex. 

11 (e) APPLICABILITY OF FOIA.—Nothing in this Act, or 

12 in a report produced under this section, shall be construed 

13 to allow the disclosure of information or a record that is 

14 exempt from public disclosure under section 552 of title 5, 

15 United States Code (commonly known as the ‘‘Freedom of 

16 Information Act’’). 

17 (f) APPLICABILITY OF THE PAPERWORK REDUCTION

18 ACT.—Subchapter I of chapter 35 of title 44, United States 

19 Code (commonly known as the ‘‘Paperwork Reduction 

20 Act’’), shall not apply to this Act. 


pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS

pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS
Calendar No. 197 

116TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 2065 

[Report No. 116–93] 

A BILL 

To require the Secretary of Homeland Security to 

technology, and for other purposes. publish an annual report on the use of deepfake 

SEPTEMBER 10, 2019 

Reported with an amendment 


pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS