Social media firms queried on AI-generated political ads Markets drift ahead of jobs report
Deepfakes generated by artificial intelligence are having their moment this year, at least when it comes to making it look, or sound, like celebrities did something uncanny. Tom Hanks hawking a dental plan. Pope Francis wearing a stylish puffer jacket. U.S. Sen. Rand Paul sitting on the Capitol steps in a red bathrobe.
But what happens next year ahead of the presidential election?
Google was the first big tech company to say it would impose new labels on deceptive AI-generated political advertisements that could fake a candidate's voice or actions. Now some U.S. lawmakers are calling on social media platforms X, Facebook and Instagram to explain why they aren't doing the same.
Two Democratic members of Congress sent a letter Thursday to Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg and X CEO Linda Yaccarino expressing “serious concerns” about the emergence of AI-generated political ads on their platforms and asking each to explain any rules they're crafting to curb the harms to free and fair elections.
“They are two of the largest platforms and voters deserve to know what guardrails are being put in place,” U.S. Sen. Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota said in an interview. “We are simply asking them, `Can't you do this? Why aren't you doing this?' It's clearly technologically possible.”
The letter to the executives from Klobuchar and Rep. Yvette Clarke of New York warns: “With the 2024 elections quickly approaching, a lack of transparency about this type of content in political ads could lead to a dangerous deluge of election-related misinformation and disinformation across your platforms – where voters often turn to learn about candidates and issues.”
X, formerly Twitter, and Meta, the parent company of Facebook and Instagram, didn't immediately respond to requests for comment Thursday. Clarke and Klobuchar asked the executives to respond to their questions by Oct. 27.
The pressure on the social media companies comes as both lawmakers are helping to lead a charge to regulate AI-generated political ads. A House bill introduced by Clarke earlier this year would amend a federal election law to require labels when election advertisements contain AI-generated images or video.
“I think that folks have a First
Amendment right to put whatever content on social media platforms that they're moved to place there,” Clarke said in an interview Thursday. “All I'm saying is that you have to make sure that you put a disclaimer and make sure that the American people are aware that it's fabricated.”
For Klobuchar, who is sponsoring companion legislation in the Senate that she aims to get passed before the end of the year, “that's like the bare minimum” of what is needed.
In the meantime, both lawmakers said they hope that major platforms take the lead on their own, especially given the disarray that has left the House of Representatives without an elected speaker.
Google already has said that starting in mid-November it will require a clear disclaimer on any AI-generated election ads that alter people or events on YouTube and other Google products. Google's policy applies both in the U.S. and in other countries where the company verifies election ads. Facebook and Instagram parent Meta doesn't have a rule specific to AI-generated political ads but has a policy restricting “faked, manipulated or transformed” audio and imagery used for misinformation.