Lawmakers Introduce Revised No Fakes Act To Restrict Deepfakes

A new version of the No Fakes Act — a bill to regulate the use of AI replicas of a person’s voice and likeness — was introduced on Wednesday, in hopes that the legislation will gain momentum in the time remaining of the current Congress.

An earlier version of the bill was introduced last year, to much fanfare: a bipartisan list of lawmakers sponsored it, and Randy Travis headlined a press conference where performers groups, studios and even tech giants like YouTube, Amazon and OpenAI backed it.

The legislation gives individuals the right to authorize the use of their voice and likeness in digital replication. The digital replication right does not expire at a person’s death, and can be transferred and licensed by heirs, executors and others. That post-mortem right, though, terminates no longer than 70 years after an individual’s passing.

The bill is meant to address the proliferation of unauthorized “deepfakes,” as a number of performers have testified on Capitol Hill about the use of their voice and likeness. An example cited was the use of voices of Drake and The Weeknd to produce Heart on My Sleeve, which went viral in 2023 and was later removed from music streaming services.

The revisions to the bill include a “counter-notice” procedure to challenge removals of material, and an exemption for certain work at libraries, archives, and research institutions. The bill already provided exclusions for news, documentary and sports, as well biographical works, or for purposes of comment, criticism, or parody, among others. 

The lawmakers reintroducing the legislation included Sen. Marsha Blackburn (R-TN), Sen. Chris Coons (D-DE), Sen. Thom Tillis (R-NC) and Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-MN), as well as Rep. Maria Salazar (R-FL) and Rep. Madeleine Dean (D-PA).