bill making election deep fakes an offense year-round

The text as introduced · 479 words

By: Talarico
H.B. No. 2795

A BILL TO BE ENTITLED

AN ACT

relating to criminal offenses for creating and distributing certain

misleading images and videos; creating a criminal offense.

BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:

SECTION 1. The heading to Section 255.004, Election Code,

is amended to read as follows:

Sec. 255.004. FALSE IMAGES, VIDEOS, AND SOURCES [ TRUE

SOURCE ] OF COMMUNICATION.

SECTION 2. Section 255.004, Election Code, is amended by

amending Subsections (c), (d), and (e) and adding Subsections (d-1)

and (d-2) to read as follows:

(c) An offense under Subsection (a), (b), or (d) [ this

section ] is a Class A misdemeanor. An offense under Subsection

(d-1) is a Class B misdemeanor.

(d) A person commits an offense if the person, with the

intent to deceive and with the intent to injure a candidate or

influence the result of an election:

(1) creates or causes to be created a deep fake video;

and

(2) publishes, distributes, or causes [ the deep fake

video ] to be published or distributed the deep fake video [ within 30

days of an election ].

(d-1) A person commits an offense if the person, with the

intent to deceive and influence the result of an election:

(1) creates or causes to be created an altered image;

and

(2) publishes, distributes, or causes to be published

or distributed the altered image.

(d-2) It is an affirmative defense to prosecution for an

offense under Subsection (d-1) if the person includes on the image a

clear label stating that the image is altered.

(e) In this section : [ , ]

(1) "Altered image" means an image that has been

manipulated to change the physical appearance of an individual or

depict an individual performing an action that did not occur. The

term does not include:

(A) a cartoon, caricature, or any other image

that a reasonable viewer would understand to be a satirical

representation of the individual; or

(B) an image altered only to change the

saturation, brightness, contrast, color, or any other superficial

quality of the image.

(2) "Deep [ "deep ] fake video" means a video[ , created

with the intent to deceive, ] that appears to depict a real person

performing an action that did not occur in reality.

SECTION 3. The change in law made by this Act applies only

to an offense committed on or after the effective date of this Act.

An offense committed before the effective date of this Act is

governed by the law in effect on the date the offense was committed,

and the former law is continued in effect for that purpose. For

purposes of this section, an offense was committed before the

effective date of this Act if any element of the offense occurred

before that date.

SECTION 4. This Act takes effect September 1, 2025.