Telecom company agrees to $1M fine over Biden deepfake
A telecom company has agreed to pay a $1 million fine for its role in the deepfake robocall that impersonated Joe Biden’s voice ahead of this year's New Hampshire Democratic primary.
A telecom company has agreed to pay a $1 million fine for its role in the deepfake robocall that impersonated President Joe Biden’s voice ahead of the New Hampshire Democratic primary, federal authorities plan to announce Wednesday.
Lingo Telecom, a voice service provider that distributed the artificial intelligence-generated robocalls through “spoofed” phone numbers, will pay the seven-figure penalty and agreed to stricter oversight protocols, in what federal authorities call a first-of-its-kind enforcement action against malicious deepfakes, or AI-driven impersonations of others.
“Every one of us deserves to know that the voice on the line is exactly who they claim to be,” Federal Communications Commission Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel said in a statement. “If AI is being used, that should be made clear to any consumer, citizen, and voter who encounters it.”
The robocall employed an AI-generated impersonation of Biden’s voice, which told New Hampshire voters not to vote in January's Democratic primary.
As first uncovered by NBC News, the call was orchestrated by longtime political consultant Steve Kramer, who at the time was working for a rival campaign, though Kramer says he did it as a stunt to raise awareness about the danger of deepfakes. Kramer and his then-employer, Rep. Dean Phillips, D-Minn., insist no one on the campaign directed Kramer or was even aware of his actions.
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