Stricken language would be deleted from and underlined language would be added to present law.
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State of Arkansas 1
95th General Assembly A Bill 2
Regular Session, 2025 HOUSE BILL 1141 3
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By: Representative R. Scott Richardson 5
By: Senator J. Bryant 6
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For An Act To Be Entitled 8
AN ACT TO CREATE CRIMINAL OFFENSES RELATED TO 9
DECEPTIVE AND INJURIOUS MEDIA IN THE COURSE OF 10
ELECTION CAMPAIGNS; AND FOR OTHER PURPOSES. 11
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Subtitle 14
TO CREATE CRIMINAL OFFENSES RELATED TO 15
DECEPTIVE AND INJURIOUS MEDIA IN THE 16
COURSE OF ELECTION CAMPAIGNS. 17
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BE IT ENACTED BY THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ARKANSAS: 19
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SECTION 1. Arkansas Code ยง 7 -1-103(a), concerning misdemeanors under 21
the laws governing elections in the State of Arkansas, is amended to add 22
additional subdivisions to read as follows: 23
(25) It shall be unlawful for a person to purposefully deceive 24
the audience and injure a candidate or influence the results of an election 25
by entering into a contract or other agreement to print, publish, or 26
broadcast political advertising that purports to emanate from a source other 27
than its true source; 28
(26) It shall be unlawful for a person to purposefully deceive 29
the audience and injure a candidate or influence the results of an election 30
by representing in a campaign communication that the communication emanates 31
from a source other than its true source; 32
(27)(A) It shall be unlawful for a person to purposefully injure 33
a candidate or influence the result of an election by: 34
(i) Creating or causing to be created a deep fake 35
video; and 36 HB1141
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(ii) Publishing, distributing, or causing to be 1
published or distributed the deep fake video during the period beginning 2
ninety (90) days before the date of the election and ending on the date of 3
the election. 4
(B) As used in this subdivision (a)(27), "deep fake video" 5
means a video that appears to depict a real person performing an action that 6
did not occur in reality; and 7
(28)(A) It shall be unlawful for a person to purposefully 8
deceive the audience and influence the results of an election by: 9
(i) Creating or causing to be created an altered 10
image; or 11
(ii) Publishing, distributing, or causing to be 12
published or distributed an altered image during the period beginning ninety 13
(90) days before the date of the election and ending on the date of the 14
election. 15
(B) It is an affirmative defense to prosecution for an 16
offense under this subdivision (a)(28) that the person included a clear label 17
on the image stating that the image has been altered. 18
(C)(i) As used in this subdivision (a)(28), "altered 19
image" means an image that has been manipulated to change the physical 20
appearance of an individual or depict an individual performing an action that 21
did not occur in reality. 22
(ii) As used in this subdivision (a)(28), "altered 23
image" does not include: 24
(a) A cartoon, caricature, or any other image 25
that a reasonable viewer would understand to be a satirical representation of 26
the individual; or 27
(b) An image altered only to change the 28
saturation, brightness, contrast, color, or any other superficial quality of 29
the image. 30
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