II 

116TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 2065 

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, and Mr. PETERS) introduced the following bill; 

which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs 

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, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

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

5 of 2019’’. 

6 SEC. 2. DEFINITIONS. 

7 In this Act: 

8 (1) DIGITAL CONTENT FORGERY.—The term 

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


pamtmann on DSKBFK8HB2PROD with BILLS
2 

•S 2065 IS

1 technologies, including artificial intelligence and ma2 chine learning techniques, to fabricate or manipulate 

3 audio, visual, or text content with the intent to mis4 lead. 

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

6 the Secretary of Homeland Security. 

7 SEC. 3. REPORTS ON DIGITAL CONTENT FORGERY TECH8 NOLOGY. 

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

10 date of enactment of this Act and every 18 months there11 after, the Secretary, acting through the Under Secretary 

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

13 state of digital content forgery technology. 

14 (b) CONTENTS.—Each report produced under sub15 section (a) shall include— 

16 (1) an assessment of the underlying tech17 nologies used to create or propagate digital content 

18 forgeries, including the evolution of such tech19 nologies; 

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

21 forgeries, including use— 

22 (A) by foreign or domestic sources; and 

23 (B) in cyber attacks, pornography, and 

24 media; 


pamtmann on DSKBFK8HB2PROD with BILLS
3 

•S 2065 IS

1 (3) an assessment of how foreign governments, 

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

3 use, digital content forgeries to harm national secu4 rity; 

5 (4) an assessment of how non-governmental en6 tities in the United States, use, or could use, digital 

7 content forgeries; 

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

9 dangers, and benefits of deep learning technologies 

10 used to generate high fidelity artificial content of 

11 events that did not occur; 

12 (6) an analysis of the methods used to deter13 mine whether content is genuinely created by a 

14 human or through digital content forgery tech15 nology, including an assessment of any effective 

16 heuristics used to make such a determination; 

17 (7) a description of the technological counter18 measures that are, or could be, used to address con19 cerns with digital content forgery technology; 

20 (8) recommendations regarding whether addi21 tional legal authorities are needed to address the 

22 findings of the report; and 

23 (9) any additional information the Secretary de24 termines appropriate. 


pamtmann on DSKBFK8HB2PROD with BILLS
4 

•S 2065 IS

1 (c) CONSULTATION AND PUBLIC HEARINGS.—In pro2 ducing each report required under subsection (a), the Sec3 retary shall— 

4 (1) consult with— 

5 (A) the intelligence community (as defined 

6 in section 3 of the National Security Act of 

7 1947 (50 U.S.C. 3003)); 

8 (B) the Secretary of Defense; 

9 (C) the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of 

10 Staff; 

11 (D) the Department of Justice, Computer 

12 Crime and Intellectual Property Section; 

13 (E) the Office of Science and Technology 

14 Policy; 

15 (F) the National Institute of Standards 

16 and Technology; 

17 (G) the National Science Foundation; 

18 (H) the Federal Election Commission; 

19 (I) the Federal Trade Commission; and 

20 (J) any other agency of the Federal gov21 ernment that the Secretary considers necessary; 

22 and 

23 (2) conduct public hearings to gather, or other24 wise allow interested parties an opportunity to 


pamtmann on DSKBFK8HB2PROD with BILLS
5 

•S 2065 IS

1 present, information and advice relevant to the pro2 duction of the report. 

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

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

5 may contain a classified annex. 

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

7 or in a report produced under this section, shall be con8 strued to allow the disclosure of information or a record 

9 that is exempt from public disclosure under section 552 

10 of title 5, United States Code. 

Æ 


pamtmann on DSKBFK8HB2PROD with BILLS