Political Advertising. All political advertising must identify the sponsor of the advertisement. Political advertisements undertaken as independent expenditures or which are distributed within 60 days of an election must also disclose the five persons or entities making the largest aggregate contributions to the advertisement's sponsor of at least $1,000, and the top three individual contributors to any of the top five donors which are political or incidental committees.
A person cannot sponsor, with actual malice, a defamatory statement in political advertising that:
Synthetic Media. Advances in machine learning led to the development of technology where a person in an existing image or video is replaced with another person's likeness, and techniques to generate new synthetic audio of a person's speech based on past recordings of the person. Media created through machine learning to falsely depict a person's speech or conduct are known as synthetic media or deepfakes.
Use of Synthetic Media. Synthetic media is defined as an image or audio or video recording of a person's appearance, speech, or conduct, that has been manipulated to create a realistic or false image, audio, or video that:
An electioneering communication which contains synthetic media may not be distributed without a disclosure. The disclosure must state that the media has been manipulated and:
Private Cause of Action. A candidate whose voice or likeness appears in synthetic media distributed without the required disclosure within 60 days of an election may seek to enjoin distribution of the media and bring an action for general or special damages against the party distributing the media. Prevailing parties may be awarded attorneys' fees and costs. The plaintiff must establish a violation of the disclosure requirement by clear and convincing evidence. Actions filed under the act take precedence over other cases and must be speedily heard and resolved. Any broadcaster or other medium is not liable for damages unless it removes a disclosure or alters the content of the advertisement such that it becomes synthetic media by definition.
Other Provisions. The bill contains a severability clause.
The committee recommended a different version of the bill than what was heard. PRO: Overseas and domestic actors seek to spread misinformation. As technology evolves, bad actors have adapted their tactics. Last March, when Russia invaded Ukraine, deepfakes circulated of the Ukrainian president ordering his troops to lay down their weapons, causing mass confusion during a critical time for the country. We must be vigilant and secure our elections before this becomes an issue in Washington State. This will not infringe on freedom of speech.
OTHER: It will be helpful for the PDC to have rulemaking authority to clarify any terminology issues that arise. The PDC is concerned that this bill may regulate the content of speech, which courts have treated skeptically.
Use of Synthetic Media. A licensee, programmer, or operator of a federally licensed broadcasting station subject to federal law prohibiting censorship of electioneering communications by a legally qualified candidate is exempt from liability under the act. The term "broadcasting station" is changed to "medium disseminating the electioneering communication."
Private Cause of Action. Courts are encouraged to determine causes of action brought under the act expediently, rather than making cases brought under the act take precedence over other cases.
Other Provisions. The PDC is requires, rather than permitted, to make rules in furtherance of the act.