Malicious Deep Fake Prohibition Act of 2018

Malicious Deep Fake Prohibition Act of 2018

This bill establishes a new criminal offense related to the creation or distribution of fake electronic media records that appear realistic.

[Congressional Bills 115th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 3805 Introduced in Senate (IS)]

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115th CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                S. 3805

 To amend title 18, United States Code, to prohibit certain fraudulent 
              audiovisual records, and for other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                           December 21, 2018

   Mr. Sasse introduced the following bill; which was read twice and 
               referred to the Committee on the Judiciary

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
 To amend title 18, United States Code, to prohibit certain fraudulent 
              audiovisual records, and for other purposes.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Malicious Deep Fake Prohibition Act 
of 2018''.

SEC. 2. FRAUD IN CONNECTION WITH AUDIOVISUAL RECORDS.

    (a) Amendment.--Chapter 47 of title 18, United States Code, is 
amended by adding at the end the following:
``Sec. 1041. Fraud in connection with audiovisual records
    ``(a) Definitions.--In this section--
            ``(1) the term `audiovisual record'--
                    ``(A) means any audio or visual media in an 
                electronic format; and
                    ``(B) includes any photograph, motion-picture film, 
                video recording, electronic image, or sound recording;
            ``(2) the term `deep fake' means an audiovisual record 
        created or altered in a manner that the record would falsely 
        appear to a reasonable observer to be an authentic record of 
        the actual speech or conduct of an individual; and
            ``(3) the terms `interactive computer service' and 
        `information content provider' have the same meaning given the 
        terms in section 230 of the Communications Act of 1934 (47 
        U.S.C. 230).
    ``(b) Offense.--It shall be unlawful to, using any means or 
facility of interstate or foreign commerce--
            ``(1) create, with the intent to distribute, a deep fake 
        with the intent that the distribution of the deep fake would 
        facilitate criminal or tortious conduct under Federal, State, 
        local, or Tribal law; or
            ``(2) distribute an audiovisual record with--
                    ``(A) actual knowledge that the audiovisual record 
                is a deep fake; and
                    ``(B) the intent that the distribution of the 
                audiovisual record would facilitate criminal or 
                tortious conduct under Federal, State, local, or Tribal 
                law.
    ``(c) Penalty.--Any person who violates subsection (b) shall be--
            ``(1) fined under this title, imprisoned for not more than 
        2 years, or both; or
            ``(2) fined under this title, imprisoned for not more than 
        10 years, or both, in the case of a violation in which the 
        creation, reproduction, or distribution of the deep fake could 
        be reasonably expected to--
                    ``(A) affect the conduct of any administrative, 
                legislative, or judicial proceeding of a Federal, 
                State, local, or Tribal government agency, including 
                the administration of an election or the conduct of 
                foreign relations; or
                    ``(B) facilitate violence.
    ``(d) Limitations.--
            ``(1) In general.--For purposes of this section, a provider 
        of an interactive computer service shall not be held liable on 
        account of--
                    ``(A) any action voluntarily taken in good faith to 
                restrict access to or availability of deep fakes; or
                    ``(B) any action taken to enable or make available 
                to information content providers or other persons the 
                technical means to restrict access to deep fakes.
            ``(2) First amendment protection.--No person shall be held 
        liable under this section for any activity protected by the 
        First Amendment to the Constitution of the United States.''.
    (b) Technical and Conforming Amendment.--The table of sections for 
chapter 47 is amended by inserting after the item relating to section 
1040 the following:

``1041. Fraud in connection with audiovisual records.''.
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