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HOUSE DOCKET, NO. 3373 FILED ON: 1/17/2025
HOUSE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . No. 846
The Commonwealth of Massachusetts
_________________
PRESENTED BY:
Bradley H. Jones, Jr.
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To the Honorable Senate and House of Representatives of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts in General
Court assembled:
The undersigned legislators and/or citizens respectfully petition for the adoption of the accompanying bill:
An Act enhancing disclosure requirements for synthetic media in political advertising.
_______________
PETITION OF:
NAME:DISTRICT/ADDRESS :DATE ADDED:Bradley H. Jones, Jr.20th Middlesex1/17/2025Kimberly N. Ferguson1st Worcester1/17/2025Paul K. Frost7th Worcester1/31/2025Todd M. Smola1st Hampden3/10/2025Hannah Kane11th Worcester1/31/2025 1 of 2
HOUSE DOCKET, NO. 3373 FILED ON: 1/17/2025
HOUSE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . No. 846
By Representative Jones of North Reading, a petition (accompanied by bill, House, No. 846) of
Bradley H. Jones, Jr. and others relative to disclosure requirements for synthetic media in
political advertising. Election Laws.
The Commonwealth of Massachusetts
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In the One Hundred and Ninety-Fourth General Court
(2025-2026)
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An Act enhancing disclosure requirements for synthetic media in political advertising.
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. Chapter 50 of the General Laws, as appearing in the 2022 Official Edition,
2is hereby amended in section 1 by adding the following definitions:-
3 "Artificial intelligence" means the capability of a computer system to perform tasks that
4normally require human intelligence, such as visual perception, speech recognition, content
5generation, and decision-making.
6 "Generative artificial intelligence" means artificial intelligence technology capable of
7creating content such as text, audio, image, or video based on patterns learned from large
8volumes of data rather than being explicitly programmed with rules.
9 "Synthetic media" means audio or video content substantially produced by generative
10artificial intelligence. 2 of 2
11 SECTION 2. Chapter 56 of the General Laws, as appearing in the 2022 Official Edition,
12is hereby amended by adding the following section:-
13 Section 70. Disclosure Requirements for Synthetic Media in Political Advertising
14 (a) Any audio or video communication that Is paid for by a candidate campaign
15committee, political action committee, political issues committee, political party, or a person
16using a contribution; Is intended to influence voting for or against a candidate or ballot
17proposition in an election or primary; and Contains synthetic media, shall: (1) Include at the
18beginning and end of the communication the words, "Contains content generated by AI"; and (2)
19Include throughout the duration of each portion of the communication containing synthetic
20media, in legible writing, the words: (i) "This video content generated by AI," if the
21communication includes only video synthetic media; (ii) "This audio content generated by AI," if
22the communication includes only audio synthetic media; or (iii) "This content generated by AI,"
23if the communication includes both video and audio synthetic media.
24 (b) Violation of any provision of this section shall be punished by a fine of not more than
25$1,000. Compliance with this section does not exempt a person from civil or criminal liability for
26violations of other applicable law.