I 
116TH CONGRESS 
2D SESSION 
H. R. 6088 
To amend the Federal Election Campaign Act of 1971 to prohibit the dis-
tribution of materially deceptive audio or visual media prior to an election 
for Federal office, and for other purposes. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
MARCH 4, 2020 
Mr. LYNCH (for himself, Mr. DESAULNIER, Mr. WELCH, and Mr. COOPER) 
introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on 
House Administration 
A BILL 
To amend the Federal Election Campaign Act of 1971 to 
prohibit the distribution of materially deceptive audio 
or visual media prior to an election for Federal office, 
and for other purposes. 
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Deepfakes in Federal 
Elections Prohibition Act’’. 
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SEC. 2. PROHIBITION ON DISTRIBUTION OF MATERIALLY 
DECEPTIVE AUDIO OR VISUAL MEDIA PRIOR 
TO ELECTION. 
(a) IN GENERAL.—Title III of the Federal Election 
Campaign Act of 1971 (52 U.S.C. 30101 et seq.) is 
amended by adding at the end the following new section: 
‘‘SEC. 325. PROHIBITION ON DISTRIBUTION OF MATERI-
ALLY DECEPTIVE MEDIA PRIOR TO ELEC-
TION. 
‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—Except as provided in sub-
sections (b) and (c), a person, political committee, or other 
entity shall not, within 60 days of a election for Federal 
office at which a candidate for elective office will appear 
on the ballot, distribute, with actual malice, materially de-
ceptive audio or visual media of the candidate with the 
intent to injure the candidate’s reputation or to deceive 
a voter into voting for or against the candidate. 
‘‘(b) EXCEPTION.— 
‘‘(1) REQUIRED
LANGUAGE.—The prohibition 
in subsection (a) does not apply if the audio or vis-
ual media includes— 
‘‘(A) 
a 
disclosure 
stating: 
‘‘This 
lllll has been manipulated.’’; and 
‘‘(B) filled in the blank in the disclosure 
under subparagraph (A), the term ‘image’, 
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‘video’, or ‘audio’, as most accurately describes 
the media. 
‘‘(2) VISUAL
MEDIA.—For visual media, the 
text of the disclosure shall appear in a size that is 
easily readable by the average viewer and no smaller 
than the largest font size of other text appearing in 
the visual media. If the visual media does not in-
clude any other text, the disclosure shall appear in 
a size that is easily readable by the average viewer. 
For visual media that is video, the disclosure shall 
appear for the duration of the video. 
‘‘(3) AUDIO-ONLY MEDIA.—If the media con-
sists of audio only, the disclosure shall be read in a 
clearly spoken manner and in a pitch that can be 
easily heard by the average listener, at the beginning 
of the audio, at the end of the audio, and, if the 
audio is greater than two minutes in length, inter-
spersed within the audio at intervals of not greater 
than two minutes each. 
‘‘(c) INAPPLICABILITY TO CERTAIN ENTITIES.—This 
section does not apply to the following: 
‘‘(1) A radio or television broadcasting station, 
including a cable or satellite television operator, pro-
grammer, or producer, that broadcasts materially 
deceptive audio or visual media prohibited by this 
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section as part of a bona fide newscast, news inter-
view, news documentary, or on-the-spot coverage of 
bona fide news events, if the broadcast clearly ac-
knowledges through content or a disclosure, in a 
manner that can be easily heard or read by the aver-
age listener or viewer, that there are questions about 
the authenticity of the materially deceptive audio or 
visual media. 
‘‘(2) A radio or television broadcasting station, 
including a cable or satellite television operator, pro-
grammer, or producer, when it is paid to broadcast 
materially deceptive audio or visual media. 
‘‘(3) An internet website, or a regularly pub-
lished newspaper, magazine, or other periodical of 
general circulation, including an internet or elec-
tronic publication, that routinely carries news and 
commentary of general interest, and that publishes 
materially deceptive audio or visual media prohibited 
by this section, if the publication clearly states that 
the materially deceptive audio or visual media does 
not accurately represent the speech or conduct of the 
candidate. 
‘‘(4) Materially deceptive audio or visual media 
that constitutes satire or parody. 
‘‘(d) CIVIL ACTION.— 
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‘‘(1) INJUNCTIVE
OR
OTHER
EQUITABLE
RE-
LIEF.—A candidate for elective office whose voice or 
likeness appears in a materially deceptive audio or 
visual media distributed in violation of this section 
may seek injunctive or other equitable relief prohib-
iting the distribution of audio or visual media in vio-
lation of this section. An action under this para-
graph shall be entitled to precedence in accordance 
with the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure. 
‘‘(2) DAMAGES.—A candidate for elective office 
whose voice or likeness appears in a materially de-
ceptive audio or visual media distributed in violation 
of this section may bring an action for general or 
special damages against the person, committee, or 
other entity that distributed the materially deceptive 
audio or visual media. The court may also award a 
prevailing party reasonable attorney’s fees and costs. 
This paragraph shall not be construed to limit or 
preclude a plaintiff from securing or recovering any 
other available remedy. 
‘‘(3) BURDEN OF PROOF.—In any civil action 
alleging a violation of this section, the plaintiff shall 
bear the burden of establishing the violation through 
clear and convincing evidence. 
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‘‘(e) RULE OF CONSTRUCTION.—This section shall 
not be construed to alter or negate any rights, obligations, 
or immunities of an interactive service provider under sec-
tion 230 of title 47, United States Code. 
‘‘(f) MATERIALLY DECEPTIVE AUDIO
OR VISUAL 
MEDIA DEFINED.—In this section, the term ‘materially 
deceptive audio or visual media’ means an image or an 
audio or video recording of a candidate’s appearance, 
speech, or conduct that has been intentionally manipulated 
in a manner such that both of the following conditions 
are met: 
‘‘(1) The image or audio or video recording 
would falsely appear to a reasonable person to be 
authentic. 
‘‘(2) The image or audio or video recording 
would cause a reasonable person to have a fun-
damentally different understanding or impression of 
the expressive content of the image or audio or video 
recording than that person would have if the person 
were hearing or seeing the unaltered, original 
version of the image or audio or video recording.’’. 
(b) CRIMINAL PENALTIES.—Section 309(d)(1) of the 
Federal Election Campaign Act of 1971 (52 U.S.C. 
30109(d)(1)) is amended by adding at the end the fol-
lowing new subparagraph: 
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‘‘(G) Any person who knowingly and will-
fully commits a violation of section 325 shall be 
fined not more than $100,000, imprisoned not 
more than 5 years, or both.’’. 
(c) EFFECT
ON DEFAMATION ACTION.—For pur-
poses of an action for defamation, a violation of section 
325 of the Federal Election Campaign Act of 1971, as 
added by subsection (a), shall constitute defamation per 
se. 
Æ 
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