With AI on the rise, Texas House passes bill requiring more transparency in political ads

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The Texas House of Representatives approved a bill Wednesday requiring political advertisements to include disclosures if the image, audio, or video recording used were substantially altered.

Former House Speaker Dade Phelan — who endured a barrage of political attacks last year during his reelection and speaker campaigns— said he authored the legislation to ensure voters understand when materials used in ads had been faked, as the use of generative artificial intelligence makes it easier to manipulate media that could use falsely represent a candidate’s conduct or speech.

“This is the beginning of a new era in ethics where the voters need to know what is real and what is not,” the Beaumont Republican said on the House floor. “This AI technology gets better every single day. It gets more inexpensive every single day, it's going to become the norm.”

The bill would require the disclosure by officeholders, candidates or political committees who used altered media in ads and spend more than $100 for political advertising. It would task the Texas Ethics Commision with determining what the disclosure would look like, including font, size and color. Violators would be charged with a Class A misdemeanor.

The bill faced fierce opposition from hardline conservatives who say it is policing speech and could allow the state to jail people over silly political memes.

“We have an electorate that is informed and we already have platforms where people can talk,” said Rep. Andy Hopper, R-Decatur. “It is not the role of government to sit there and be a nanny state police force to decide.”

The bill passed out of the House with a vote of 102-40. It now heads to the Senate.

Phelan amended the bill to ensure an individual wouldn’t be punished for altering superficial qualities of an image or video, such as the brightness, contrast or color. The legislation excludes companies, radio or TV broadcasters, commercial sign owners, computer services, and internet providers from liability.

“This is nothing different than what we currently do with political advertisements,” Phelan said on the House floor Wednesday. “You have to put ’political ad paid for by,’ when you enter this political advertising arena. And all this does is tell you to add a disclosure that you are using altered media.”

The legislation is one of multiple ethics bills Phelan filed related to political advertisements after enduring a bruising primary campaign last year where his district was flooded with mailers and advertisements making false statements about him and his political record.

Phelan described how at one point, his voters were so confused about what advertisements were real and fake that when his primary opponent received President Donald Trump’s endorsement — which actually occurred— he had voters tell him they didn’t believe it was true.

“Quite frankly, my voters, if they can't tell my opponent was endorsed by Donald Trump — which is a very valuable endorsement in our primary politics — when they don't even believe that, that’s pretty eye opening,” he said.

It’s unclear whether the bill has enough support to pass out of the upper chamber.

In March, the Senate unanimously passed a similar bill related to the use of deep fake videos to influence an election sponsored by Dallas Sen. Nathan Johnson and Sen. Lois Kolkhorst of Brenham. The bill was referred to the House Elections committee but has not been scheduled for a hearing.

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