9 months ago
The New Hampshire attorney general named the apparent sources of a mysterious fake Joe Biden robocall last month, and the Federal Communications Commission sent a cease-and-desist letter to a Texas telecom company seeking to halt future bogus calls.
The incident is the highest-profile controversy to use AI during the 2024 campaign, and comes as the technology faces growing scrutiny over its ability to create realistic deepfakes and spread misinformation.
The FCC issued a cease-and-desist order Tuesday to Lingo Telecom, a Texas entity that carried the robocalls on its phone network.
The FCC partnered with the New Hampshire State Attorney General’s Office, which separately issued a cease-and-desist order to Life Corporation, a Texas entity that allegedly made the robocalls. New Hampshire officials accused Life of violating the state’s voter suppression laws, and also identified Walter Monk as a source of these calls. Monk, Life and Lingo didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.
Lingo suspended services to Life after being informed of the investigation, according to New Hampshire officials.
“The FCC’s partnership and fast action in this matter sends a clear message that law enforcement and regulatory agencies are staying vigilant and are working closely together to monitor and investigate any signs of AI being used maliciously to threaten our democratic process,” New Hampshire Attorney General John Formella said in a statement.
FCC officials also asked other telecom providers to beware of suspicious phone traffic carried by Lingo and said they may begin blocking calls from Lingo if they notify the agency of their decision to do so. The commission said it could order other providers to block Lingo’s traffic if the illegal robocalls continue.
Enforcers noted that both Lingo and Life have been accused of robocall violations in the past.
Enforcement officials said they’re increasingly concerned about how AI technology can be used to meddle in elections.
“The increasing reliance on AI-generated voices to deceive the public, including as part of election disinformation campaigns, is a rapidly growing problem,” Loyaan Egal, who heads the FCC’s Enforcement Bureau, said in a statement. “We will utilize every tool available to ensure that U.S. communications networks are not used to facilitate the harmful misuse of AI technologies.”
New Hampshire Households began receiving the robocalls on Jan. 21, two days before the primary. The calls included an artificial voice recording of Biden that told voters to stay home and save their vote for the November presidential election.
The impersonation of Biden’s voice conveyed the following message: “Republicans have been trying to push nonpartisan and democratic voters to participate in their primary. What a bunch of malarkey. We know the value of voting democratic when our votes count. It’s important that you save your vote for the November election. … Voting this Tuesday only enables the Republicans in their quest to elect Donald Trump again. Your vote makes a difference in November, not this Tuesday.”
English (US)