Entertainment No Fakes Act

Photo Credit: Harold Mendoza

Entertainment The reintroduced No Fakes Act is one step closer to becoming law, as it’s been unanimously advanced by the Senate Judiciary Committee.

That across-the-board committee support arrives about one month after the legislation – full title Nurture Originals, Foster Art, and Keep Entertainment Safe Act – was once again introduced in Congress.

First introduced in 2024, the No Fakes Act (or at least prior iterations thereof) ultimately fizzled out in committee. Now, two years, multiple artist endorsements, several more cosponsors, and a few modifications later, time will tell whether the bill can cross the finish line.

(Designed to bolster federal voice and likeness protections to combat AI deepfakes, the No Fakes Act has remained substantially the same since its 2024 debut. However, the current version has incorporated content-identifying digital fingerprints and supersized the penalty, to $25,000 a pop, for “false or deceptive” takedown notices and counter-notices, to name a couple changes.)

But the unanimous Judiciary Committee advancement is certainly a big step in the right direction – generally and because the involved lawmakers possess plenty of influence on Capitol Hill. In other words, with the bipartisan group of senators on board, the measure would perhaps fare well in a chamber-wide vote.

Against this backdrop, the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) once again took the opportunity to thank the senators (plus the bill’s House proponents) and to reiterate its support for the No Fakes Act.

“We are encouraged by today’s passage in the Senate Judiciary Committee and look forward to the bill’s passage into law later this year,” RIAA CEO Mitch Glazier summed up.

“An extraordinary cross-sector coalition including the creative community, child safety groups, free market groups, labor unions, free speech advocates, and AI developers have come together to support these protections for Americans’ voice and likeness from exploitive digital deepfakes, and consumers agree: 92% worry about the impact of AI deepfakes on authenticity, society and culture. The NO FAKES Act answers the call,” he concluded.

Previously, DMN broke down the legislation’s ins and outs – besides the specific support it’s receiving from the major labels. Also backing the bill this time around are OpenAI, TikTok, the National Association of Broadcasters, and the National Music Publishers’ Association (NMPA), among many others.

As for what comes next, the House Judiciary Committee doesn’t appear to have scheduled a markup for the No Fakes Act, nor has the relevant subcommittee teed up a hearing. But with the Senate Judiciary Committee’s vote in the books, logic suggests that additional steps on the road to passage could materialize in the not-so-distant future.