Every state broadcasters association in the country is now formally behind federal legislation to regulate AI-generated deepfakes, with organizations representing all 50 states, D.C., and Puerto Rico urging Congress to pass the NO FAKES Act.
The legislation, Nurture Originals, Foster Art, and Keep Entertainment Safe, would create a federal remedy for nonconsensual digital replicas in audiovisual works, images, and sound recordings, protecting the voices and visual likenesses of all individuals from unauthorized computer-generated recreations. The bill has drawn bipartisan support in Congress and backing from entertainment industry groups.
For broadcasters, the stakes are framed around trust.
The NO FAKES Act includes carve-outs for genuine news reporting, commentary, criticism, and other First Amendment-protected speech, and directly addresses concerns that AI-generated deepfakes can erode public confidence in local media.
The resolution adds to a push by NAB and state associations for federal guardrails around AI in media. In 2025, the NAB joined senators in backing the COPIED Act, a companion bill that would watermark AI-generated content and prohibit unauthorized use of broadcasters’ original reporting and on-air work to train AI models. That same year, a proposed federal AI moratorium raised alarms that state-level deepfake disclosure laws already on the books in more than a dozen states could be rendered unenforceable.
NAB President and CEO Curtis LeGeyt commented, “NAB and broadcasters across the country support the NO FAKES Act because it helps protect what matters most: trust. Local broadcasters work every day to earn the confidence of their communities, and unauthorized AI-generated replicas threaten that trust. This bipartisan legislation provides important safeguards against harmful deepfakes while supporting responsible innovation.”
