FCC Fines Political Consultant $6 Million for AI-based “Deepfake” Robocalls

On September 26, 2024, the Federal Communications Commission ("FCC") issued a $6 million fine against political consultant Steve Kramer for "illegal robocalls made using deepfake, AI-generated voice cloning technology and caller ID spoofing to spread election misinformation to potential New Hampshire voters prior to the state's January primary presidential election." The fine follows a $1 million settlement reached last month with Lingo Telecom, LLC (Lingo), the voice service provider that originated the transmission of these calls.

Notably, neither Kramer nor Lingo were alleged to have violated robocall or other restrictions in the Telephone Consumer Protection Act. As we previously explained here, the FCC took action against Kramer for apparent violations of the Truth in Caller ID Act, which makes it unlawful to "cause any caller identification service to knowingly transmit misleading or inaccurate caller identification information with the intent to defraud, cause harm, or wrongfully obtain anything of value."

The FCC's enforcement action against Lingo arose from noncompliance with its rules to implement the STIR/SHAKEN authentication framework in its Internet Protocol networks.

Lingo also agreed to implement a compliance plan that requires "strict adherence to the FCC's STIR/SHAKEN caller ID authentication rules, including requirements that the company abide by 'Know Your Customer' (KYC) and 'Know Your Upstream Provider' (KYUP) principles" and "requirements that the company more thoroughly verify the accuracy of the information provided by its customers and upstream providers." The settlement with Lingo was the first of its kind in that the FCC had not previously initiated enforcement actions for violations of its STIR/SHAKEN caller ID authentication rules.