Man Behind Biden Deepfake Robocalls Hit With $6 Million Fine

The Federal Communications Commission has issued a $6 million fine to the man responsible for blasting New Hampshire voters with robocalls containing a deepfake of President Joe Biden’s voice in the days before the state’s presidential primary election.

Political consultant Steve Kramer, who was working for longshot rival candidate Dean Phillips, admitted to commissioning the calls, which used artificial intelligence to mimic the president’s voice encouraging Granite Staters not to vote in the Democratic primary.

“Voting this Tuesday only enables the Republicans in their quest to elect Donald Trump again,” the fake voice said. “Your vote makes a difference in November, not this Tuesday.”

The FCC said the robocalls violated the Truth in Caller ID Act, which makes it illegal to spoof another caller with the intent to defraud. Last month, the agency reached a $1 million settlement with Lingo Telecom, the company that allowed the calls to be transmitted over its network.

Kramer eventually fessed up to his role in the scheme in an interview with NBC, where he said “I’m not afraid to testify, I know why I did everything. If a House oversight committee wants me to testify, I’m going to demand they put it on TV because I know more than them.”

He hasn’t been asked to testify, but in addition to the $6 million fine the New Hampshire attorney general’s office has also charged him with voter suppression.

“The misuse of generative AI technology and spoofing to interfere in elections undermines the foundation of our democracy and poses a significant threat, the full scope of which is yet to be determined,” FCC Chief of Enforcement Loyaan Egal, said in a statement.

The New Hampshire primary was an odd choice of election on which to run a voter suppression scheme. At the time, Biden, as the sitting president, was the presumptive Democratic nominee, and no one considered Phillips’s challenge as posing a threat. The Minnesota congressman would soon drop out of the race and endorse Biden.

On top of that, Biden wasn’t even on the New Hampshire ballot targeted by the robocalls. He refused to campaign in the state because New Hampshire’s Democratic party, which has long prided itself on holding the first primary in the nation each election season, didn’t bow from pressure from the national party to reschedule its primary for later in the year. Biden nonetheless won the primary in a write-in campaign.

In recent months, the FCC has proposed rules that would further crackdown on AI-generated robocalls and require the disclosure of AI-generated content in political advertisements on TV and radio.