California Bill Aims To Further Criminalize Wrongful Use Of "Deepfakes"

SACRAMENTO (CBS13)  — Months after Gov. Gavin Newsom banned the use of political "deepfakes" during an election, a new bill is being introduced to further expand the ban of wrongful deceptive media outside of election season.

Assemblymember Tim Grayson introduced AB 1903 on Wednesday which aims to further criminalize the wrongful use of deepfakes in California.

If approved, AB 1903 would define a deepfake as a recording that has been created or altered in a manner that it would falsely appear to be an authentic record of the actual event it is depicting. The bill would also criminally prohibit "preparing, producing, or developing, without the depicted individual's consent, a deepfake depicting sexual conduct."

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Exemptions under the proposed bill would include recordings that are satire or parody and those that contain a clear disclosure that the recording is a fake.

Grayson said "the bill would appropriate $25,000,000 from the General Fund to the University of California to fund research to identify and combat the inappropriate use of deepfake technology."

Gov. Newsom in October 2019 signed into law AB 730, which prohibits the creation and use of deepfakes, or deceptive media, that may be false or damaging to a candidate's reputation to protect the upcoming election. AB 730 will remain in effect until Jan. 1, 2023.