HB 811 — An Act providing for civil liability for fraudulent misrepresentation of candidates; and imposing penalties.

PRIOR PRINTER'S NO.

841 PRINTER'STHE NO.GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF PENNSYLVANIA HOUSE BILL Session of No.

1819 THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF PENNSYLVANIA HOUSE BILL Session of No.

WILLIAMS, HOHENSTEIN, SHUSTERMAN, STEELE, WEBSTER, WARREN, DALEY, O'MARA AND INGLIS, MARCH 5, 2025 ASREFERRED REPORTEDTO FROM COMMITTEE ON COMMUNICATIONS AND TECHNOLOGY, HOUSEMARCH OF5, REPRESENTATIVES, AS AMENDED, JUNE 3, 2025 AN ACT Providing for civil liability for fraudulent misrepresentation of candidates;

<-- (1) A machine-based system that can, for a given set of human-defined objectives, make predictions, recommendations or decisions influencing real or virtual environments, including the ability to:

(6) An employee, contractor or individual acting at the behest of an entity specified under paragraph (1), (2), (3), 20250HB0811PN181920250HB0811PN0841 - 2 - (4) or (5) or an officer, director, employee, owner, shareholder or contractor thereof.

"DEEPFAKE." 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." FACTUAL INFORMATION THAT DETAILS A DIGITAL RESOURCE'S CREATOR, ORIGIN, CONTEXT, HISTORY AND EDITING PROCESS AND CONFORMS TO AN OPEN INDUSTRY TECHNICAL STANDARD.

"Generative artificial intelligence." The class of models <-- that emulate the structure and characteristics of input data in order to generate derived synthetic content.

"INTERACTIVE"Pennsylvania COMPUTERElection SERVICE."Code." ANYThe INFORMATIONact <--of SERVICE,June SYSTEM3, OR1937 ACCESS(P.L.1333, SOFTWARENo.320), PROVIDERknown THATas PROVIDESthe ORPennsylvania ENABLESElection COMPUTERCode. 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.

20250HB0811PN1819 - 3 - "Pennsylvania Election Code." The act of June 3, 1937 (P.L.1333, No.320), known as the Pennsylvania Election Code.

"Synthetic content." Information such as images, videos, <-- audio clips and text that have been significantly modified or generated by algorithms, including artificial intelligence.

(a) Liability.--A covered person shall be liable for fraudulent misrepresentation of a candidate if, within 90 days before an election and with willful or reckless disregard for <-- the possibility of influencing the outcome of an election, the covered person KNOWINGLY AND INTENTIONALLY disseminates or <-- causes to be disseminated a campaign advertisement that contains an artificially generated impersonation of a candidate for <-- public office with the intent to misrepresent the words, actions or beliefs of the candidatecandidate. A DEEPFAKE.

<-- (b) Clear and conspicuous disclosure.--A covered person shall not be liable for a fraudulent misrepresentation under <-- subsection (a) if the campaign advertisement contains a clear and conspicuous disclosure.

The disclosure under this subsection 20250HB0811PN0841 - 3 - must:

(1) State that the campaign advertisement contains synthetic DEEPFAKE content of a candidate for public office.

<-- The disclosure shall be in substantially the following form:

This (text/image/video/sound) <-- (IMAGE/VIDEO/SOUND/CONTENT) CONTAINS DEEPFAKE CONTENT <-- AND has been manipulated or generated using synthetic <--content. content TO DEPICT SPEECH OR CONDUCT THAT DID NOT <-- 20250HB0811PN1819 - 4 - OCCUR.

(2) Be displayed in the first instance when EACH TIME <-- the campaign advertisement is presented.

(4)(c) BERelief.--A INcandidate THEfor SAMEpublic LANGUAGEoffice ASaggrieved USEDby INa THE20250HB0811PN0841 CAMPAIGN- <--4 ADVERTISEMENT.- covered person under subsection (a) may bring a civil action against the covered person in a court of competent jurisdiction and shall be entitled to recover punitive damages, reasonable attorney fees and other reasonably related litigation costs incurred relating to the civil action.

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) DIGITAL CONTENT PROVENANCE.--A COVERED PERSON SHALL 20250HB0811PN1819 - 5 - ENSURE THAT CONTENT IN A CAMPAIGN ADVERTISEMENT CONTAINING A DISCLOSURE UNDER SUBSECTION (B) CARRIES 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 EDITED, ALTERED OR OTHERWISE MODIFIED THE CONTENT.

(3) ANY USE OF DIGITAL TECHNOLOGY IN GENERATING OR MODIFYING THE SUBSTANTIVE CONTENT.

(c) (D) Relief.--A candidate for public office aggrieved by <-- a covered person under subsection (a) may bring a civil action against the covered person in a court of competent jurisdiction and shall be entitled to recover punitive damages, reasonable attorney fees and other reasonably related litigation costs incurred relating to the civil action.

(d) (E) Civil penalties.-- <-- (1) In addition to any other judgment or relief awarded under subsection (c) (D) to an aggrieved candidate for public <-- office, a court may, for each campaign advertisement containing unique synthetic DEEPFAKE content, impose a civil <-- penalty on the covered person for each day the fraudulent misrepresentation is disseminated in an amount up to:

(i) $15,000 when the campaign advertisement contains 20250HB0811PN1819 - 6 - unique synthetic DEEPFAKE content of a candidate for a <-- municipal public office in this Commonwealth for which the candidate files with the county board of elections under section 913 of the Pennsylvania Election Code.

(ii) Except as provided in subparagraph (iii), $50,000 when the campaign advertisement contains unique synthetic DEEPFAKE content of a candidate for a State <-- public office in this Commonwealth for which the candidate files with the Secretary of the Commonwealth under section 913 of the Pennsylvania Election Code.

20250HB0811PN0841 - 5 - (iii) $250,000 when the campaign advertisement contains unique synthetic 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.

(e) (F) Frivolous actions.--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 attorney fees and other reasonably related litigation costs incurred relating to the civil action to the covered person and may impose appropriate sanctions against the 20250HB0811PN1819 - 7 - candidate and the candidate's attorney.

(f) (G) Defense.--It shall be a defense to a civil action <-- brought under this section that the covered person disseminated the campaign advertisement containing synthetic 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.

(g) Location.--A covered person may be found liable in a <-- civil action brought under this section if the covered person or candidate is located within this Commonwealth.

20250HB0811PN0841 - 6 - (h) Applicability.--Nothing in this section shall be construed to apply to any of the following:

(3) A newspaper, magazine or other periodical of general <-- circulation, 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) when the entity is paid to disseminate a campaign advertisement with the consent of the candidate as specified under subsection (f)(f). <-- (G).

<-- (5) An interactive computer service, as defined in 47 <-- U.S.C.