Even as Congress remains on August recess, House Democrats are taking a stand to encourage a new FCC Notice of Proposed Rulemaking aimed at requiring clear disclosures when artificial intelligence is used in political advertisements on radio and TV.
Democratic members of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, led by Ranking Member Frank Pallone, Jr. (D-NJ) and Subcommittee on Communications and Technology Ranking Member Doris Matsui (D-CA), sent a letter to FCC Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel voicing their support for the increasingly partisan NPRM.
The letter states, “We are supportive of your common-sense proposal to build upon the FCC’s 80-year history of requiring political advertising disclosures. Updating the FCC’s existing rules for the AI age by requiring certain disclosures when AI-generated content is used in political ads will establish some transparency for Americans.”
There has been uproar on Capitol Hill from Republicans saying that trying to regulate AI in this way oversteps FCC authority or strays into the oversight territory of the Federal Election Commission. The letter addresses these concerns, saying, “We strongly disagree with some who have suggested that the FCC lacks jurisdiction to adopt these proposed rules. Such arguments ignore the relevant statutes and decades of precedent. We also find it worrisome that such a simple, consumer-friendly proposal that imposes minimal burdens has evoked such strong opposition from Republicans – even well before the full text of the proposal was released to the public. After all, the FCC has played an important role with respect to providing transparency around political advertising since 1938.”
Meanwhile, the FEC appears to be standing down on the matter of reining in AI. Chairman Sean Cooksey has announced the agency will not yet pursue rulemaking on the use of artificial intelligence in political campaign advertisements, following a petition filed by Ralph Nader’s consumer advocacy group, Public Citizen.
Yet Republicans remain set on keeping the FCC out of AI. Senators Cynthia Lummis and Mike Lee are advancing the “Ending FCC Meddling in Our Elections Act,” which aims to prevent the FCC from implementing the proposed disclosure rules.
While Chairwoman Rosenworcel originally hoped to put the requirements in place ahead of the Presidential election, that seems increasingly unlikely. The NPRM comment and reply period is already running until September 19, but the NAB and the Motion Picture Association have jointly requested that the period be extended to one day before Election Day.
The Democrats do not seem to be bothered by the timeline, writing, “While we understand that it may not be possible to enact these new rules prior to the November election, these rules will only become more important for future elections, and we encourage you to complete this rulemaking expeditiously.”
With Congress in recess until September 9, no further legislative action can be taken to obstruct the FCC’s rulemaking on political AI transparency until then.
