Bill Text: NY A10402 | 2023-2024 | General Assembly | Amended

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Bill Title: Relates to requiring certain notice and disclosure regarding materially deceptive media in political communications.

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 2-0)

Status: (Introduced) 2024-06-07 - substituted by s9678b [A10402 Detail]

Download: New_York-2023-A10402-Amended.html

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                STATE OF NEW YORK
        ________________________________________________________________________

                                        10402--A

                   IN ASSEMBLY

                                      May 21, 2024
                                       ___________

        Introduced by COMMITTEE ON RULES -- (at request of M. of A. Otis, Bores)
          --  read once and referred to the Committee on Election Law -- commit-
          tee discharged, bill amended, ordered reprinted as amended and  recom-
          mitted to said committee

        AN  ACT  to  amend the election law, in relation to materially deceptive
          media in political communications

          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 added by section 1 of subpart B of part MM  of  chapter
     3  58  of  the laws of 2024, is amended and a new subdivision 7 is added to
     4  read as follows:
     5    (b) (i) A person, firm, association, corporation, campaign, committee,
     6  or organization that distributes or  publishes  any  political  communi-
     7  cation  that  was produced by or includes materially deceptive media and
     8  [knows or should know] has actual knowledge that it is materially decep-
     9  tive shall be required to disclose this use.
    10    (ii) (1) For visual media the disclosure shall be printed or typed  in
    11  a  legible  font  size  easily readable by the average viewer that is no
    12  smaller than other text appearing in the visual media and  in  the  same
    13  language  used  on  the  communication to read as follows: "This (image,
    14  video, or audio) has been manipulated".
    15    (2) For communication that is auditory, such  as  radio  or  automated
    16  telephone  calls, clearly speaking the statement at the beginning of the
    17  audio, at the end of the audio, and, if the audio is  greater  than  two
    18  minutes  in  length,  interspersed  within the audio at intervals of not
    19  greater than two minutes each and in the same language as  the  rest  of
    20  the  audio  used in the communication, and in a pitch that can be easily
    21  heard by the average listener satisfies the requirements of  clause  one
    22  of this subparagraph.
    23    (iii) This paragraph shall not apply to the following:
    24    (1) materially deceptive media that constitutes satire or parody;
    25    (2)  materially deceptive media [created for the purposes of] distrib-
    26  uted by a bona fide news [reporting  when  the  required  disclosure  is

         EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
                              [ ] is old law to be omitted.
                                                                   LBD15622-05-4
        A. 10402--A                         2

     1  included]  reporting  entity for the purpose of news reporting or cover-
     2  age, if the reporting clearly acknowledges through content or a  disclo-
     3  sure,  in  a  manner  that  can  be  easily read or heard by the average
     4  listener  or  viewer, that there are questions about the authenticity of
     5  the materially deceptive media; [or]
     6    (3) a radio or television  broadcasting  station,  including  a  cable
     7  television, satellite television or streaming service operator, program-
     8  mer,  producer  or  other  similar  entity,  that broadcasts a political
     9  communication when the station or streaming service is paid to broadcast
    10  the political communication if the station or streaming service can show
    11  that it  has  disclaimer  requirements  that  are  consistent  with  the
    12  requirements  provided  in  this  paragraph  and  that it provided those
    13  disclaimer requirements to each person  or  entity  that  purchased  the
    14  broadcast or streaming of the advertisement; or
    15    (4)  initial dissemination by a platform or service including, but not
    16  limited to, a website, regularly published newspaper, or magazine, where
    17  the content disseminated  is  materially  deceptive  media  provided  by
    18  another  information content provider [when a good faith effort has been
    19  made to establish that the depiction is not materially deceptive media].
    20    (iv) A candidate whose voice or likeness appears in materially  decep-
    21  tive  media  in  violation of this subdivision may seek reasonable court
    22  costs and attorneys' fees and injunctive relief prohibiting the distrib-
    23  ution, publication or broadcasting of any materially deceptive media  in
    24  violation  of  this  subdivision  against  such individual or entity who
    25  disseminated or published such media without the consent of  the  person
    26  depicted and who knew or should have known that it was materially decep-
    27  tive.  An  action  under  this paragraph shall be initiated by filing an
    28  application for an order to show cause in the supreme  court  where  the
    29  materially deceptive media at issue could deceive and influence electors
    30  in  an  upcoming election. Such action shall be entitled to an automatic
    31  calendar preference and be  subject  to  expedited  pretrial  and  trial
    32  proceedings.
    33    (v)  In any action alleging a violation of this subdivision in which a
    34  plaintiff seeks preliminary relief with respect to an upcoming election,
    35  the court shall grant relief if it determines that:
    36    (A) plaintiffs are more likely than not to succeed on the merits; and
    37    (B) it is possible to  implement  an  appropriate  remedy  that  would
    38  resolve the alleged violation in the upcoming election.
    39    (vi)  In  any  action  commenced under this subdivision, the plaintiff
    40  bears the burden of establishing the use of materially  deceptive  media
    41  by clear and convincing evidence.
    42    7.  Nothing  in this section shall be construed to require entities to
    43  cancel, edit, or insert video or audio labels  into  political  communi-
    44  cations where such action is inconsistent with federal law.
    45    § 2. This act shall take effect immediately.