HOUSE DOCKET, NO. 3373        FILED ON: 1/17/2025

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The Commonwealth of Massachusetts

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PRESENTED BY:

Bradley H. Jones, Jr.

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To the Honorable Senate and House of Representatives of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts in General
Court assembled:

The undersigned legislators and/or citizens respectfully petition for the adoption of the accompanying bill:

An Act enhancing disclosure requirements for synthetic media in political advertising.

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PETITION OF:

HOUSE DOCKET, NO. 3373        FILED ON: 1/17/2025

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The Commonwealth of Massachusetts

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In the One Hundred and Ninety-Fourth General Court
(2025-2026)

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An Act enhancing disclosure requirements for synthetic media in political advertising.

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General Court assembled, and by the authority of the same, as follows:
 

SECTION 1. Chapter 50 of the General Laws, as appearing in the 2022 Official Edition, is hereby amended in section 1 by adding the following definitions:-

"Artificial intelligence" means the capability of a computer system to perform tasks that normally require human intelligence, such as visual perception, speech recognition, content generation, and decision-making.

"Generative artificial intelligence" means artificial intelligence technology capable of creating content such as text, audio, image, or video based on patterns learned from large volumes of data rather than being explicitly programmed with rules.

"Synthetic media" means audio or video content substantially produced by generative artificial intelligence.

SECTION 2. Chapter 56 of the General Laws, as appearing in the 2022 Official Edition, is hereby amended by adding the following section:-

Section 70. Disclosure Requirements for Synthetic Media in Political Advertising

(a) Any audio or video communication that Is paid for by a candidate campaign committee, political action committee, political issues committee, political party, or a person using a contribution; Is intended to influence voting for or against a candidate or ballot proposition in an election or primary; and Contains synthetic media, shall: (1) Include at the beginning and end of the communication the words, "Contains content generated by AI"; and (2) Include throughout the duration of each portion of the communication containing synthetic media, in legible writing, the words: (i) "This video content generated by AI," if the communication includes only video synthetic media; (ii) "This audio content generated by AI," if the communication includes only audio synthetic media; or (iii) "This content generated by AI," if the communication includes both video and audio synthetic media.

(b) Violation of any provision of this section shall be punished by a fine of not more than $1,000. Compliance with this section does not exempt a person from civil or criminal liability for violations of other applicable law.