Crimes: deceptive recordings.

Existing law creates a civil cause of action for using the name, voice, signature, photograph, or likeness of another person, without their consent, in any manner, for the purpose of advertising, selling, or soliciting goods or services. Existing law also creates a civil cause of action for capturing or attempting to capture, in a manner that is offensive to a reasonable person, any type of image or recording of a person engaging in a private, personal, or familial activity. Existing law prohibits the distribution of an intimate image, as described, of an identifiable person that was taken under circumstances in which the person agreed or understood that the image was to remain private. This bill would define a "deepfake" as a recording that has been created or altered in a manner that it would falsely appear to a reasonable observer to be an authentic record of the actual speech or conduct of the individual depicted in the recording. The bill would criminally prohibit a person from preparing, producing, or developing, without the depicted individual's consent, a deepfake that depicts an individual engaging in sexual conduct, under specified circumstances involving the distribution, exhibition, or exchange of the deepfake. This bill would also criminally prohibit a person from preparing, producing, or developing, without the depicted individual's consent, a deepfake with the intent that the deepfake coerce or deceive any voter into voting for or against a candidate or measure in an election that is occurring within 60 days, under specified circumstances involving the distribution, exhibition, or exchange of the deepfake. This bill would appropriate $25,000,000 from the General Fund to the University of California to fund research to identify and combat the inappropriate use of deepfake technology. By creating a new crime, this bill would impose a state-mandated local program. The California Constitution requires the state to reimburse local agencies and school districts for certain costs mandated by the state. Statutory provisions establish procedures for making that reimbursement. This bill would provide that no reimbursement is required by this act for a specified reason.