Earlier this year, the FCC began a rulemaking seeking to establish rules governing political communications and advertising on broadcast stations. NYSBA, along with other state broadcast associations, filed Joint Reply Comments with the FCC opposing the Commission’s proposals. As a threshold matter, we are not the problem. Deceptive AI does not appear on broadcasting and is found primarily in digital media. We argued:
The FCC’s focus on broadcast political advertising is misguided since the problem with AI deepfakes rests with social media and other digital platforms.
Requiring stations to add a disclaimer to all political ads using any form of AI will only confuse the public.
Adding duties to investigate the presence of AI in political ads and inserting AI disclaimers is overly burdensome.
Advertisers using AI may deceive stations, and stations have no ability to investigate and determine the truth. Stations should not be held liable.
Adding disclaimers before and after the ad changes a 30-second ad into a longer ad time.
Placing an AI disclaimer requirement on broadcasters will drive political advertising to digital online platforms (which are not regulated).
Driving revenue away from local stations harms our ability to provide local news and serve our communities.
Requiring disclaimers violates the First Amendment and interferes with political speech.
Requiring disclaimers on advertising purchased by an authorized candidates committee conflicts with the non-censorship requirements of the Communications Act.
As we reported earlier, NY state has already enacted legislation concerning AI and political communications.
You can see our filing with the FCC here.
You can access information regarding the NY law Political AI Law here.