Provides that any person, firm, association, corporation, campaign, committee, or organization found guilty of knowingly disseminating or publishing media without the consent of the person depicted and who knew or should have known that it was materially deceptive shall forfeit to the state board of elections a sum not exceeding ten thousand dollars for each and every offense and three times the total amount spent on creating and promoting the materially deceptive media.
STATE OF NEW YORK
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11646
IN ASSEMBLY
July 29, 2026
___________
Introduced by COMMITTEE ON RULES -- (at request of M. of A. Shrestha) --
read once and referred to the Committee on Election Law
AN ACT to amend the election law, in relation to political communication
The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem-bly, do enact as follows:
1 Section 1. Paragraph (b) of subdivision 5 of section 14-106 of the
2 election law, as amended by chapter 169 of the laws of 2024, is amended
3 to read as follows:
4 (b) (i) A person, firm, association, corporation, campaign, committee,
5 or organization [that distributes or publishes] shall not distribute any
6 political communication that was produced by or includes materially
7 deceptive media [and has actual knowledge that it is materially decep-
8 tive shall be required to disclose this use].
9 (ii) [(1) For visual media the disclosure shall be printed or typed in
10 a legible font size easily readable by the average viewer that is no
11 smaller than other text appearing in the visual media and in the same
12 language used on the communication to read as follows: "This (image,
13 video, or audio) has been manipulated".
14 (2) For communication that is auditory, such as radio or automated
15 telephone calls, clearly speaking the statement at the beginning of the
16 audio, at the end of the audio, and, if the audio is greater than two
17 minutes in length, interspersed within the audio at intervals of not
18 greater than two minutes each and in the same language as the rest of
19 the audio used in the communication, and in a pitch that can be easily
20 heard by the average listener satisfies the requirements of clause one
21 of this subparagraph.
22 (iii)] This paragraph shall not apply to the following:
23 (1) materially deceptive media that constitutes satire or parody;
24 (2) materially deceptive media distributed by a bona fide news report-
25 ing entity for the purpose of news reporting or coverage, if the report-
26 ing clearly acknowledges through content or a disclosure, in a manner
27 that can be easily read or heard by the average listener or viewer, that
28 there are questions about the authenticity of the materially deceptive
29 media;
EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[] is old law to be omitted.
LBD16068-02-6
A. 11646 2
1 (3) a radio or television broadcasting station, including a cable
2 television, satellite television or streaming service operator, program-
3 mer, producer or other similar entity, that broadcasts a political
4 communication when the station or streaming service is paid to broadcast
5 the political communication if the station or streaming service can show
6 that it has disclaimer requirements that are consistent with the
7 requirements provided in this paragraph and that it provided those
8 disclaimer requirements to each person or entity that purchased the
9 broadcast or streaming of the advertisement; or
10 (4) initial dissemination by a platform or service including, but not
11 limited to, a website, regularly published newspaper, or magazine, where
12 the content disseminated is materially deceptive media provided by
13 another information content provider.
14 [(iv)] (iii) A candidate whose voice or likeness appears in materially
15 deceptive media in violation of this subdivision may seek reasonable
16 court costs and attorneys' fees and injunctive relief prohibiting the
17 distribution, publication or broadcasting of any materially deceptive
18 media in violation of this subdivision against such individual or entity
19 who disseminated or published such media without the consent of the
20 person depicted and who knew or should have known that it was materially
21 deceptive. An action under this paragraph shall be initiated by filing
22 an application for an order to show cause in the supreme court where the
23 materially deceptive media at issue could deceive and influence electors
24 in an upcoming election. Such action shall be entitled to an automatic
25 calendar preference and be subject to expedited pretrial and trial
26 proceedings.
27 [(v)] (iv) In any action alleging a violation of this subdivision in
28 which a plaintiff seeks preliminary relief with respect to an upcoming
29 election, the court shall grant relief if it determines that:
30 [(A)] (1) plaintiffs are more likely than not to succeed on the
31 merits; and
32 [(B)] (2) it is possible to implement an appropriate remedy that would
33 resolve the alleged violation in the upcoming election.
34 [(vi)] (v) In any action commenced under this subdivision, the plain-
35 tiff bears the burden of establishing the use of materially deceptive
36 media by clear and convincing evidence.
37 (vi) Any person, firm, association, corporation, campaign, committee,
38 or organization found guilty under subparagraph (iii) of this paragraph
39 shall forfeit to the board a sum not exceeding ten thousand dollars for
40 each and every offense and three times the total amount spent on creat-
41 ing and promoting the materially deceptive media. The board shall annu-
42 ally redistribute any funds received as a result of this subparagraph to
43 all local boards of election. The funds shall be distributed propor-
44 tionally based on the number of residents served by the local board of
45 election as determined by the most recent decennial census.
46 § 2. This act shall take effect immediately.
