Political consultant behind the Joe Biden deepfake robocalls faces $6 million fine

The Federal Communications Commission has proposed imposing multimillion-dollar fines on the political consultant responsible for the robocall campaign that used an AI-generated deepfake of President Joe Biden’s voice — and on the telecom company that facilitated the calls.

“We will act swiftly and decisively to ensure that bad actors cannot use U.S. telecommunications networks to facilitate the misuse of generative AI technology to interfere with elections, defraud consumers, or compromise sensitive data,” Loyaan Egal, chief of the enforcement bureau and chair of the FCC’s Privacy and Data Protection Task Force, said in a statement.

In February, Kramer — who had been working for Democratic presidential candidate Dean Phillips’ campaign — told NBC News he was behind the robocalls sent two days ahead of the New Hampshire primary election, in which a voice that sounded like Biden’s told voters not to show up to the polls. “Save your vote for the November election,” the Biden spoof told prospective voters. NBC News found no evidence that Phillips’ campaign was involved in the calls. Kramer — who paid a New Orleans magician $150 to create the message — claimed he made the deepfake to send a message about the use of AI in elections. (The magician told reporters he was unaware of Kramer’s plans for the audio.)

Kramer also faces criminal penalties in New Hampshire, where grand juries in four counties indicted him on 26 counts, including impersonating a candidate and voter suppression, according to The New York Times.

The FCC issued a cease-and-desist order to Lingo Telecom in February and also outlawed the use of AI-generated voices in robocalls that month. In a press release, the FCC said the $2 million fine is due to Lingo’s violation of “know your customer” principles regarding the calls.