California wrote the playbook everyone else copies:
- AB 2355: political ads generated or substantially altered with AI must carry a disclosure label.
- AB 2839: bans knowingly distributing materially deceptive election deepfakes, effective on signing in September 2024. Blackout of 120 days before an election and 60 days after.
- AB 2655 (Defending Democracy from Deepfake Deception Act of 2024): large platforms (1M+ California users) must block or label deceptive election content, act on user reports within 72 hours, and build reporting tools. Satire and parody exempt.
- AB 730 (2019): the original 60-day ban on deceptive candidate media, extended through 2027.
Texas took the criminal route back in 2019: publishing a deceptive deepfake video to influence an election within 30 days of voting is a Class A misdemeanor. Sources: Congress.gov, NCSL Running ads in 2026? The disclaimer rules differ by state, and "we didn't know it was AI" is not a defense.