New Jersey A 770: Requires certain disclosures of intentionally deceptive audio or visual media.

Bill Text

A770 

ASSEMBLY, No. 770 

STATE OF NEW JERSEY

222nd LEGISLATURE

� 

PRE-FILED FOR INTRODUCTION IN THE 2026 SESSION

Sponsored by:

Assemblyman DAVID BAILEY, JR.

District 3 (Cumberland, Gloucester and Salem)

SYNOPSIS

���� Requires certain disclosures of intentionally 
deceptive audio or visual media.

CURRENT VERSION OF TEXT 

���� Introduced Pending Technical Review by Legislative 
Counsel.

�� 

An Act concerning disclosures of intentionally 
deceptive audio or visual media and supplementing Title 56 of the Revised 
Statutes.

���� Be It 
Enacted by the Senate and General Assembly of 
the State of New Jersey:

���� 1.��� As used in P.L.��� , 
c.��� (C.����� ) (pending before the Legislature as this bill):

���� �Advanced technological false 
personation record� or �record� means any deceptive audio or visual media that 
a reasonable person, having considered the visual or audio qualities of the 
record and the nature of the distribution channel in which the record appears, 
would believe accurately exhibits:

���� any material activity of a 
living person which the living person did not in fact undertake and was 
produced without the consent of the living person and the exhibition of which 
is substantially likely to either further a criminal act or result in improper 
interference in an official proceeding, public policy debate, or election; or

���� any material activity of a 
deceased person that the deceased person did not in fact undertake, that was 
produced without the consent of the deceased person or the heirs thereof and 
the exhibition of which is substantially likely to either further a criminal 
act or result in improper interference in an official proceeding, public policy 
debate, or election.

���� �Material activity� means any 
falsified speech, conduct, or depiction which causes, or a reasonable person 
would recognize has a tendency to cause, perceptible individual or societal 
harm, including misrepresentation, reputational damage, embarrassment, harassment, 
financial losses, the incitement of violence, the alteration of a public policy 
debate or election, or the furtherance of any unlawful act.

���� �Deceptive audio or visual 
media� means any video recording, motion picture film, sound recording, 
electronic image, or photograph, or any technological representation of speech 
or conduct substantially derivative thereof that appears to authentically depict 
any speech or conduct of a person who did not in fact engage in the speech or 
conduct and the production of which was substantially dependent upon technical 
means, rather than the ability of another person to physically or verbally 
impersonate the person.

���� 2.��� a.� A person who 
produces an advanced technological false personation record with the intent to 
distribute the record over the Internet or with knowledge that the record shall 
be so distributed, and which a person in this State has the ability to access via 
the Internet, shall ensure the record complies with:

���� (1)�� the watermark 
requirement pursuant to subsection b. of this section; and

���� (2)�� in the case of an 
audiovisual record, the disclosure requirements under subsection c. of this 
section;

���� (3)�� in the case of a visual 
record, the disclosure requirements under subsection d. of this section; or

���� (4)�� in the case of an audio 
record, the disclosure requirements under subsection e. of this section.

���� b.��� An advanced 
technological false personation record which contains a moving visual element 
shall contain an embedded digital watermark clearly identifying the record as 
containing altered audio or visual elements.

���� c.���� An advanced 
technological false personation record containing both an audio and a visual 
element shall include:

���� (1)�� not less than one 
clearly articulated verbal statement that identifies the record as containing 
altered audio and visual elements, and a concise description of the extent of 
the alteration; and

���� (2)�� an unobscured written 
statement in clearly readable text appearing at the bottom of the image 
throughout the duration of the visual element that identifies the record as 
containing altered audio and visual elements, and a concise description of the 
extent of the alteration.

���� d.��� An advanced 
technological false personation record exclusively containing a visual element 
shall include an unobscured written statement in clearly readable text 
appearing at the bottom of the image throughout the duration of the visual 
element that identifies the record as containing altered visual elements, and a 
concise description of the extent of the alteration.

���� e.���� An advanced 
technological false personation record exclusively containing an audio element 
shall include, at the beginning of the record, a clearly articulated verbal 
statement that identifies the record as containing altered audio elements and a 
concise description of the extent of the alteration