New Deepfake Laws in 2024: How Governments Are Fighting AI Disinformation

With major global elections and rapid advancements in artificial intelligence, 2024 has become a critical year for digital regulation. Governments around the world are rushing to pass laws targeting malicious AI video spoofs and audio clones. Here is a breakdown of exactly how lawmakers are fighting back against AI disinformation this year.

The Push for Regulation in a Major Election Year

More than 60 countries are holding national elections in 2024. This massive democratic exercise coincides with the release of incredibly realistic generative AI tools, such as OpenAI’s Sora and Midjourney v6. Lawmakers recognized that bad actors could easily create fake videos of politicians saying things they never said.

To prevent mass confusion, governments stepped in. Instead of trying to ban artificial intelligence entirely, regulators are focusing on transparency, consent, and severe penalties for malicious intent.

United States: State-Level Action and Federal Rules

The United States currently lacks a single, comprehensive federal law regulating artificial intelligence. However, federal agencies and individual states have taken aggressive action in 2024.

The FCC Bans AI Robocalls

In February 2024, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) issued a ruling that made AI-generated voice robocalls illegal. The agency classified AI voices as artificial under the Telephone Consumer Protection Act. This decision followed a high-profile incident in January where New Hampshire voters received fake robocalls mimicking President Joe Biden. The FCC ruling empowers state attorneys general to track down and prosecute the creators of these deceptive audio clones.

Tennessee Passes the ELVIS Act

On July 1, 2024, Tennessee enacted the Ensuring Likeness Voice and Image Security (ELVIS) Act. This first-of-its-kind legislation updates the state’s right of publicity laws to specifically include voice protection. It makes it illegal to recreate an artist’s voice or likeness using AI without their explicit consent. While targeted at protecting the music industry in Nashville, it sets a legal precedent for individual digital rights across the country.

Utah and California Crack Down

Utah passed the Artificial Intelligence Policy Act, which went into effect in May 2024. This law requires businesses to clearly disclose when they are using AI to interact with consumers. Meanwhile, California advanced several bills, including AB 2655, known as the Defending Democracy from Deepfake Deception Act. This legislation forces large social media platforms to block or label deceptive deepfakes related to elections during specific timeframes.

The European Union: Setting Global Standards

The European Union took the most significant global step by passing the EU AI Act in March 2024. This massive piece of legislation categorizes artificial intelligence systems by risk level.

Under the EU AI Act, deepfakes fall into a category requiring strict transparency. If a creator generates or manipulates image, audio, or video content to look authentic, they must clearly label that the content is artificially generated. The law uses a phased rollout, but the transparency requirements are designed to force major tech companies to build detection and labeling tools directly into their platforms. Failure to comply can result in fines of up to 7% of a company’s global annual revenue.

United Kingdom: Criminalizing Explicit Content

The United Kingdom focused heavily on the personal harm caused by deepfakes. In April 2024, the UK government announced new amendments to the Criminal Justice Bill.

Under these new rules, anyone who creates sexually explicit deepfakes of another adult without their consent faces a criminal record and an unlimited fine. If the creator distributes the fake image or video, they can face jail time. This legislation explicitly targets the creators of malicious content, closing a loophole where previously only the sharing of such images was considered a crime.

Asia-Pacific: Strict Election Protections

Countries in the Asia-Pacific region have also enacted strict, time-sensitive regulations regarding deepfakes in 2024.

South Korea’s Election Ban

Ahead of its legislative elections in April 2024, South Korea amended its Public Official Election Act. The government completely banned the use of deepfake videos, images, and audio for election campaigning starting 90 days before election day. The National Election Commission actively monitored social media and required platforms to remove violating content immediately. Violators faced up to seven years in prison or fines of 50 million won (roughly $37,000).

India’s Advisory to Tech Platforms

In early 2024, the Indian government issued a strict advisory to tech companies operating in the country. The Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology required platforms to explicitly ask users not to host or share deepfakes. Platforms that fail to remove malicious AI content within 36 hours risk losing their safe harbor protections, making them legally liable for the content posted by their users.

How Tech Companies Are Responding to New Laws

To comply with these new 2024 regulations, major technology companies are adopting technical standards to identify AI content.

A primary focus is the Coalition for Content Provenance and Authenticity (C2PA) standard. Backed by companies like Adobe, Microsoft, and Google, C2PA embeds hidden data directly into the file of an image or video. This metadata acts as a digital nutrition label, showing exactly when the content was created and what AI tools were used. Social media platforms like Meta and TikTok began rolling out features in early 2024 to read these digital labels and automatically apply “Made with AI” badges to user posts.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is a deepfake?

A deepfake is a video, image, or audio recording that has been manipulated or generated by artificial intelligence to look or sound like a real person.

Is it currently illegal to make a deepfake in the United States?

Creating a deepfake is not inherently illegal at the federal level. However, using a deepfake to commit fraud, interfere with an election, or create non-consensual explicit material violates several state laws and federal communication rules established in 2024.

How does the EU AI Act affect users outside of Europe?

The EU AI Act applies to any company doing business within the European Union. Because major platforms like YouTube, TikTok, and X operate globally, they generally apply EU-mandated transparency rules and AI labels to their platforms worldwide to simplify compliance.

What should I do if I spot a malicious deepfake?

You should report the content using the built-in reporting tools on the social media platform where you found it. Most major networks updated their terms of service in 2024 to explicitly ban deceptive synthetic media that attempts to manipulate elections or harass individuals.