HOUSE . . . . . . . . No. 4406
The Commonwealth of Massachusetts
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HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, February 22, 2024.
The committee on Advanced Information Technology, the Internet and
Cybersecurity, to whom was referred the petition (accompanied by bill,
House, No. 72) of Jay D. Livingstone for legislation to establish a
Massachusetts state deepfake and digital provenance task force (including
members of the General Court) to protect against deep fakes used to
facilitate criminal or torturous conduct, reports recommending that the
accompanying bill (House, No. 4406) ought to pass.
For the committee,
TRICIA FARLEY-BOUVIER. 1 of 5
FILED ON: 2/6/2024
HOUSE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . No. 4406
The Commonwealth of Massachusetts
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In the One Hundred and Ninety-Third General Court
(2023-2024)
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An Act establishing a task force on the use of deepfake and digital content forgery.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General Court assembled, and by the authority
of the same, as follows:
1 SECTION 1.
2 (a) Definitions — The following definitions shall apply to this measure:
3 (1) “Election deepfake”, a deepfake that depicts a candidate, ballot question committee or
4political party with the intent to injure the reputation of the candidate or party or otherwise
5deceive a voter and that: (i) appears to a reasonable person to depict a real individual saying or
6doing something that individual did not say or do; or (ii) provides a reasonable person a
7fundamentally different understanding or impression of the appearance, action or speech than a
8reasonable person would have from an unaltered, original version of the image, audio recording
9or video recording.m
10 (2) “Deepfake” means an image, audio recording, or video recording of an individual’s
11appearance, speech or conduct that has been created or intentionally manipulated with the use of
12generative adversarial network techniques or other digital technology in a manner to create a
13realistic but false image, audio or video. 2 of 5
14 (3) “Digital Content Provenance” means the verifiable chronology of the original piece of
15digital content, such as an image, video, audio recording, or electronic document.
16 (4) “Digital Content Forgery” means the use of technologies, including artificial
17intelligence and machine learning techniques, to fabricate or manipulate audio, visual, or text
18content with the intent to mislead.
19 (5) “Task Force” means the Massachusetts State Deepfake and Digital Provenance Task
20Force established in Section 2.
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22 SECTION 2.
23 (a) There is hereby established a “Massachusetts State Deepfake and Digital Provenance
24Task Force” on or before July 1, 2024, to evaluate all of the following:
25 (1) The proliferation of deepfakes impacting state and local government, Massachusetts-
26based businesses, and residents.
27 (2) The risks, including privacy risks, associated with the deployment of digital content
28forgery technologies and deepfakes on Massachusetts state and local government, Massachusetts
29businesses, and Massachusetts residents.
30 (3) The impact of digital content forgery technologies and deepfakes on civic
31engagement, including the use of deepfakes to influence or deceive a voter.
32 (4) The legal implications associated with the use of digital content forgery technologies
33and deepfakes. 3 of 5
34 (5) The best practices for preventing digital content forgery and deepfake technology to
35benefit the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, local government, Massachusetts-based
36businesses, and Massachusetts residents.
37 (b) The Task Force shall consist of 11 members: 2 of whom shall be the chairs of the
38joint committee on advanced information technology the internet and cybersecurity, who shall
39serve as co-chairs; 1 of whom appointed by the Speaker of the House of representatives; 1 of
40whom shall be appointed by the President of the Senate; 1 of whom shall be the secretary of the
41executive office of technology services and security, or a designee; 1 of whom shall be the
42attorney general or a designee; 1 of whom shall be the executive director of the ACLU of
43Massachusetts or a designee; and 4 members appointed by the governor; provided
44 (1). Three of whom shall be from private industry, with at least two having a
45 technical focus that includes digital content forgery, media manipulation, or related
46subjects.
47 (2). One of whom shall, in consultation with the Attorney General have a background in
48law.
49 (c) The deepfake task force shall take input from a broad range of stakeholders with a
50diverse range of interests affected by state policies governing emerging technologies, privacy,
51business, the courts, the legal community, and state and local government.
52 (d) The Deepfake and Digital Provenance Task Force shall develop a coordinated plan to- 4 of 5
53 (1) Reduce the negative impacts of digital content forgeries and deepfakes, including by
54exploring how the adoption of a digital content provenance standard could assist with reducing
55the proliferation of digital content forgeries and deepfakes;
56 (2) Investigate the feasibility of, and obstacles to, Massachusetts state departments
57adopting standards and technologies for determining digital content provenance;
58 (3) Investigate the feasibility of conducting a public, consumer education campaign to
59Increase the ability of internet companies, journalists, watchdog organizations, other relevant
60entities, and members of the public to meaningfully scrutinize and identify digital content
61forgeries and relay trust and information about digital content provenance to content consumers;
62 (4) Develop or identify mechanisms for content creators to do the following:
63 (i) Cryptographically certify the authenticity of original media and non-deceptive
64manipulations; and
65 (ii) Enable the public to validate the authenticity of original media and non-deceptive
66manipulations to establish content provenance.
67 (5) Evaluate appropriate constitutional considerations.
68 (e) On or before January 1, 2025, the “Deepfake and Digital Provenance Task Force”
69shall deliver a report to the Legislature regarding the potential uses and risks of deepfake
70technology in Massachusetts. The report shall be filed with the House and Senate clerks' office;
71and the Senate and House Committees on ways and means.
72 The working group’s report shall include: 5 of 5
73 (1) recommendations for modifications to the definition of digital content forgery and
74deepfakes;
75 (2) recommendations for the development and implementation of policies and procedures
76regarding the use of deepfake and digital content forgery technology;
77 (3) recommendations related to prohibitions and disclaimers on the use of election
78deepfakes and digital content forgery technology as it relates to deceptive or fraudulent
79depictions, in advance of an election, of a candidate, ballot question committee or political party;
80provided such recommendations shall include exemptions for news reporting on the deceptive or
81fraudulent depiction;
82 (4) recommendations for regulatory or legislative action, if any, including but not limited
83to, recommendations for amendments to existing statutes and regulations that may require
84updates in light of the proliferation of digital content forgery technologies and deepfakes.
85 (f) The members of the working group shall serve without compensation but shall be
86reimbursed for all necessary expenses actually incurred in the performance of their duties.
87 (g) Upon the submission of the report, the Task Force shall sunset.
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