Federal · House Bill · 118th Congress, 2nd Session
HR9639
H.R. 9639 — To amend the Federal Election Campaign Act of 1971 to clarify that the prohibition under such Act against the fraudulent misrepresentation of campaign authority and the fraudulent solicitation of funds includes misrepresentation through the use of content generated in whole or in part with the use of artificial intelligence (generative AI), and for other purposes

Status ● Failed Effective N/A Passage Likelihood N/A

WHAT THIS BILL REGULATES · 1 REQUIREMENT TYPE

How Is This Bill Enforced

Enforcement Authority
Enforcement by the Federal Election Commission under existing FECA enforcement mechanisms. No new private right of action is created by this bill; enforcement authority and procedures remain as established under existing FECA provisions (52 U.S.C. § 30109).
Private Right of Action
No private right of action. Enforcement is exclusive to the designated authority.
Penalties
The bill does not create new penalty provisions. Violations are subject to existing FECA civil and criminal enforcement remedies, including civil penalties and criminal fines administered by the FEC and DOJ.

What This Bill Requires

Verbatim statutory text on the left; plain-language analysis and a per-section checklist on the right. Numbered markers cross-link to the matching checklist row.

Statutory Text
Analysis & Obligations
Section 1
Short Title

This Act may be cited as the ''AI Ads Act''.

Establishes the short title of the bill as the AI Ads Act. This section creates no compliance obligations.

Section 2
Use of AI-generated content as fraudulent misrepresentation of campaign authority
Publisher

(a) 1 Section 322(a)(1) of the Federal Election Campaign Act of 1971 (52 U.S.C. 30124(a)(1)) is amended by striking the semicolon and inserting the following: '', including through the use of content generated in whole or in part with the use of artificial intelligence (generative AI);''.

(b) 2 Section 322(b)(1) of the Federal Election Campaign Act of 1971 (52 U.S.C. 30124(b)(1)) is amended by striking the semicolon and inserting the following: '', including through the use of content generated in whole or in part with the use of artificial intelligence (generative AI);''.

Section 2 amends both subsections of 52 U.S.C. § 30124 — the fraudulent misrepresentation provision (§ 30124(a)(1)) and the fraudulent solicitation of funds provision (§ 30124(b)(1)) — to expressly include misrepresentation carried out through content generated in whole or in part with artificial intelligence (generative AI). This is a clarifying amendment: it does not create a new prohibition but ensures the existing FECA fraud prohibitions are understood to cover AI-generated deepfakes, synthetic voice content, and other generative-AI outputs used to impersonate candidates or solicit funds fraudulently.

Compliance actions 2 items
1
No person may fraudulently misrepresent themselves as speaking, writing, or otherwise acting for or on behalf of a candidate or political party through the use of content generated in whole or in part with artificial intelligence (generative AI).
CP-01.7
2
No person may use content generated in whole or in part with artificial intelligence (generative AI) to fraudulently solicit contributions by misrepresenting the solicitation as being on behalf of a candidate, political party, or political committee.
CP-01.7
Section 3
Extending prohibition against fraudulent misrepresentation to any person for any purpose
Publisher

(a)(1) 3 in the matter preceding paragraph (1), by striking ''who is a candidate for Federal office or an employee or agent of such a candidate'';

(a)(2) 3 in paragraph (1), by striking ''any other candidate or political party or employee or agent thereof on a matter which is damaging to such other candidate or political party or employee or agent thereof'' and inserting ''any candidate, political party, or other real or fictitious political committee or organization, or employee or agent of such a candidate, political party, or political committee or organization''.

(b) 4 Section 322(b)(1) of such Act (52 U.S.C. 30124(b)(1)) is amended by striking ''any candidate or political party or employee or agent thereof'' and inserting ''any candidate, political party, or other real or fictitious political committee or organization, or employee or agent of such a candidate, political party, or political committee or organization''.

Section 3 broadens the scope of FECA § 322 in two dimensions. First, it removes the limitation that the fraudulent misrepresentation prohibition applies only to candidates and their employees or agents — after amendment, any person is subject to the prohibition. Second, it expands the universe of entities that can be fraudulently impersonated to include any candidate, political party, or real or fictitious political committee or organization, eliminating the prior requirement that the misrepresentation relate to a matter damaging to the impersonated party. The same broadening is applied to the fraudulent solicitation of funds provision. These amendments are not AI-specific — they apply to fraudulent misrepresentation by any means — but operate in tandem with Section 2's AI clarification to create a comprehensive prohibition on AI-enabled political fraud.

Compliance actions 2 items
3
Any person — not only candidates and their agents — is prohibited from fraudulently misrepresenting themselves as acting on behalf of any candidate, political party, or real or fictitious political committee or organization, including through AI-generated content.
CP-01.7
4
Any person is prohibited from fraudulently soliciting contributions by impersonating any candidate, political party, or real or fictitious political committee or organization, including through AI-generated content.
CP-01.7

Passage Likelihood

Failed
Status Failed
Final action Referred to the House Committee on House Administration.

Legislative History

2024-09-17 Introduced in House
2024-09-17 Referred to the House Committee on House Administration.

Entry Last Reviewed

2026-05-15
AI generated