Shaheen, NH Delegation Urge Further Coordination to Prevent AI Robocalls, Applaud Recent Efforts to Protect NH Voters

(Washington, DC) - Today, Senator Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH) joined Senator Maggie Hassan (D-NH), Congressman Chris Pappas (NH-01) and Congresswoman Annie Kuster (NH-02) in a letter to the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) and Federal Election Commission (FEC) urging further coordination to prevent unlawful robocalls. The New Hampshire delegation also applauded the FCC’s recent efforts to address the prerecorded robocalls made to New Hampshire voters discouraging them from voting in the state’s presidential primary that used an artificial intelligence (AI) generated voice.

“We encourage the FCC and the Federal Election Commission (FEC) to consider coordinating on efforts to prevent these kinds of spam robocalls from reaching the American public,” the lawmakers wrote. “Beyond this public coordination, we encourage the FCC and FEC to consider liaising with other federal agencies and law enforcement that possess expertise on this and related issues.”

They added, “We write to commend your swift action to address the prerecorded robocalls made to New Hampshire voters discouraging them from voting using a voice apparently generated with artificial intelligence (AI).”

The letter can be found here and below. 

Dear Chair Rosenworcel and Ms. Stevenson, 

We write to commend your swift action to address the prerecorded robocalls made to New Hampshire voters discouraging them from voting using a voice apparently generated with artificial intelligence (AI). 

As you know, on January 22, 2024, one day prior to New Hampshire’s presidential primary, multiple media outlets reported that voters received robocalls on January 21, 2024 using an AI generated voice of President Joe Biden.  The artificially created message, or deepfake, stated, “your vote makes a difference in November, not this Tuesday.”  These calls were reportedly placed using a false number and though the online account used to generate the voice has been suspended, the person or persons responsible for these calls have yet to be identified. 

We thank the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) for its swift work identifying the alleged origin of the robocall and issuing a cease-and-desist letter. We further thank the FCC for their partnership with the New Hampshire State Attorney General’s office in its enforcement efforts.  

We are deeply troubled by this attempt at election interference and voter suppression. As our modern technological world advances, we are concerned that these kinds of calls will only persist and advance. We applaud the FCC’s February 8, 2024, adoption of a Declaratory Ruling to recognize calls made with AI-generated voices as “artificial” voices under the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA), thereby making these kinds of robocall scams illegal. We encourage the FCC and the Federal Election Commission (FEC) to consider coordinating on efforts to prevent these kinds of spam robocalls from reaching the American public. 

Beyond this public coordination, we encourage the FCC and FEC to consider liaising with other federal agencies and law enforcement that possess expertise on this and related issues, including, but not limited to, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, and the National Security Agency in this effort. 

We agree with your assessment that the FCC has the authority to police deepfake robocalls. Should the FCC need additional resources to utilize this authority to the maximum extent, we stand ready to provide you with those resources. 

Again, we thank the FCC and FEC for their work to prevent robocall scam campaigns and election interference. As advances in AI continue, the FCC and FEC’s continued vigilance in preventing unlawful robocalls and malicious spoofing is necessary to protect the American public and our bedrock democratic process.

We appreciate your time and attention to this important issue. 

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