WASHINGTON, D.C. — Broadcaster associations from all 50 states, the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico have sent a letter to congressional leadership in support of the Nurture Originals, Foster Art, and Keep Entertainment Safe Act.
Introduced as a Senate resolution on July 31 by Sen. Christopher Coons (D-Del.), S.4875 was read twice and referred to the Senate Judiciary Committee.
It has bipartisan support from Republican Senators Thomas Tillis and Marsha Blackburn, who once chaired the House Energy & Commerce Committee; and from Democrat Amy Klobuchar.
Now, state broadcasters’ associations are seeking to advance the “NO FAKES Act” ahead of a “reset” with the end of the current Congressional session.
The letter, sent on Monday (9/16) to the minority and majority leaders of the Senate and House of Representatives, expresses their collective support of the legislation, which like the “Local Radio Freedom Act” is a non-binding resolution.
The “NO FAKES Act” would, in the view of the SBAs, “create important guardrails for the use of digital replicas without unduly restricting the potential benefits that generative AI can contribute to the broadcast and creative industries now and in the future.”
The bipartisan legislation is designed to protect the voice and visual likeness of all individuals from unauthorized computer-generated recreations made by generative AI.
It would also provide exclusions for use of digital replicas in certain bona fide news reporting and broadcasting, as well as commentary, criticism, scholarship satire, parody, and other First Amendment speech.
“At a time when misinformation and disinformation run rampant online and on social media, America’s hometown broadcasters are committed to serving your constituents with trusted local news, information and entertainment programming that brings our communities together,” the SBAs state. “But nonconsensual voice and image clones can sever that trust, ruin reputations and careers, and distort our public disclosure. The NO FAKES Act would create a federal remedy, while also preserving certain state laws, for individuals to fight back against abusive and manipulative deepfakes that threaten to disrupt that trust. And while combatting misinformation, disinformation, misappropriation of content, and deepfakes is a multifaced problem, the NO FAKES Act is a step in the right direction.”
