Bill Text: NY A06790 | 2023-2024 | General Assembly | Amended

---

Bill Title: Prohibits the creation and dissemination of synthetic media within sixty days of an election with intent to unduly influence the outcome of an election; makes such act a class E felony.

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 9-0)

Status: (Introduced) 2024-01-03 - referred to election law [A06790 Detail]

Download: New_York-2023-A06790-Amended.html

---

                STATE OF NEW YORK
        ________________________________________________________________________

                                         6790--A

                               2023-2024 Regular Sessions

                   IN ASSEMBLY

                                       May 8, 2023
                                       ___________

        Introduced  by M. of A. VANEL -- read once and referred to the Committee
          on  Election  Law  --  committee  discharged,  bill  amended,  ordered
          reprinted as amended and recommitted to said committee

        AN  ACT  to  amend  the  election  law,  in  relation to prohibiting the
          creation and dissemination of synthetic media within sixty days of  an
          election with intent to unduly influence the outcome of an election

          The  People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem-
        bly, do enact as follows:

     1    Section 1. The election law is amended by adding a new section  17-172
     2  to read as follows:
     3    § 17-172. Creating synthetic media with intent to unduly influence the
     4  outcome  of an election. 1. A person who, with intent to injure a candi-
     5  date or unduly influence the outcome of an election, creates  or  causes
     6  to  be  created a fabricated photographic, videographic, or audio record
     7  and causes such fabricated photographic, videographic, or  audio  record
     8  to  be  disseminated or published within sixty days of an election shall
     9  be guilty of a class E felony.
    10    2. For purposes of this section:
    11    (a)  "Fabricated  photographic,  videographic,  or  audio  record"  or
    12  "synthetic  media"  shall  mean  a still image, video or audio recording
    13  that:
    14    (i) exhibits a high level of  authenticity  or  convincing  appearance
    15  that is visually or audibly indistinguishable from reality;
    16    (ii)  is  either manipulated or entirely artificial, including but not
    17  limited to, manipulation through means of advanced synthetic media tech-
    18  nologies that utilize artificial intelligence, such as deepfakes, gener-
    19  ative pre-trained transformers, and stable diffusion; and
    20    (iii) depicts a scenario that did not actually occur or that has  been
    21  altered in a significant way from how they actually occurred.
    22    (b)  "Disseminate"  and  "publish"  shall  have  the  same meanings as
    23  defined in section 250.40 of the penal law.

         EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
                              [ ] is old law to be omitted.
                                                                   LBD10784-04-3
        A. 6790--A                          2

     1    3. This section shall not apply to the following:
     2    (a)  dissemination  or publication of synthetic media that was created
     3  for the purpose of political or social commentary, parody,  or  artistic
     4  expression  that  is  not  disseminated  or published with the intent to
     5  misrepresent its authenticity;
     6    (b) dissemination or publication of synthetic media that  was  created
     7  for  the  purpose  of  news  reporting  where the synthetic media is not
     8  disseminated or published with the intent to misrepresent its authentic-
     9  ity;
    10    (c) dissemination or publication of synthetic media depicting a person
    11  or persons where the person who created  the  synthetic  media  received
    12  consent from all persons depicted;
    13    (d)  dissemination  or  publication  of  a fabricated record where the
    14  person reasonably believes that the dissemination or publication of  the
    15  record  is necessary to protect themselves from serious bodily injury or
    16  death; or
    17    (e) initial dissemination or publication of  synthetic  media  by  the
    18  platform  or  service, provided that the synthetic media was not created
    19  by an individual who  is  directly  affiliated  with  such  platform  or
    20  service.
    21    §  2.  This  act shall take effect on the thirtieth day after it shall
    22  have become a law.