deepfakes, democracy, and Taylor Swift

We have two days. The Federal Election Commission (FEC) is meeting this Thursday. And we’re hearing that the FEC may reject our formal petition that it take action to prevent political deepfakes from undermining the 2024 election. [This may well be our last chance to stop the FEC from shirking its duty to safeguard our democracy.]( [Please take action right now, even if you’ve taken action before on this critical issue.]( See Lisa’s earlier note — copied below in case you missed it — for more about the threat of political deepfakes. - Robert Weissman, Co-President of Public Citizen ****** Earlier this month, Donald Trump posted deepfakes online that appeared to show pop music superstar Taylor Swift and her fans endorsing him for president. What are “deepfakes”? - Deepfakes are sounds, images, or videos generated using so-called “artificial intelligence” (AI). - This is not science fiction or paranoia. - Existing AI technology is powerful enough to make deepfakes that are essentially indistinguishable from the real thing. - In fact, deepfakes are already being used — nefariously yet effectively — in real-world elections both here in America and elsewhere in the world. To be clear, Taylor Swift has not endorsed Donald Trump. And here’s what I told the national media: “The deepfakes of Taylor Swift are yet another example of AI’s power to create misinformation that deceives and defrauds voters. The potential harms to our society that could result from such misinformation, including abuses of our elections, are wide-reaching and immensely damaging.” In July of 2023, Public Citizen formally petitioned the Federal Election Commission (FEC) to require that political deepfakes be labeled as such. Frankly, it’s the least that the government agency tasked with safeguarding the integrity of our elections should do. But — over a year since we asked the FEC to take this obvious step — we’re hearing that the agency may reject our petition and shirk its duty to prevent deepfakes from undermining the 2024 election. [We are running out of time to make our voices heard before the FEC makes a potentially disastrous mistake. Take action right now, even if you’ve taken action before on this critical issue.]( [To the Federal Election Commission:]( [The FEC’s core responsibility is to safeguard the integrity of our elections. And one of the most serious threats to our democracy is the emergence of political deepfakes. You can still get this right and require that political deepfakes be labeled as such. Democracy itself is hanging in the balance.]( [Click to add your name now.]( Thanks for taking action. For democracy, - Lisa Gilbert, Co-President of Public Citizen [Donate]( | Public Citizen | 215 Pennsylvania Avenue SE | Washington DC 20003 | [Unsubscribe]( [supporter]