South Dakota Cracks Down on Unlabeled Deepfakes in Elections
Summary
On March 25, 2025, South Dakota Gov. Larry Rhoden signed a bill that regulates the use of AI deepfakes in elections. The bill targets the use of intentionally harmful and unlabeled deepfakes of South Dakota politicians within 90 days of an election and introduces potential civil and criminal penalties of a class one misdemeanor, including up to one year imprisonment and a fine of $2,000. However, the bill provides exemptions from liability for broadcasters, newspapers, websites and radio stations and excludes deepfakes that constitute satire or parody.
- Disclosure: "This (image/video/audio) has been manipulated or generated by artificial intelligence."
- For videos, the disclosure must be legible, no smaller than the largest font size of apparent text and superimposed over each deepfake.
- For audio, the disclosure must be clearly spoken in an audible pitch at the beginning and end of the recording.
Impacted Sectors
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