New Hampshire Judicial Authorities Indict Steve Kraemer
US Federal Communications Commission Imposes $6 Million Fine
"Did It to Urge Deepfake Regulation," Explanation Given
Earlier this year, ahead of the primary election in New Hampshire, USA, a political consultant who created a fake phone call impersonating President Joe Biden, causing a stir, was indicted, Bloomberg reported on the 23rd (local time).
According to the report, New Hampshire judicial authorities indicted political consultant Steve Kramer on charges including bribery and candidate impersonation. The U.S. Federal Communications Commission (FCC) imposed a fine of approximately $6 million. John Formella, New Hampshire Attorney General, warned in a press release, "We hope that each of our enforcement actions sends a strong deterrent signal to anyone attempting to interfere with elections through artificial intelligence (AI) or other means."
In January, a day before the New Hampshire primary, a robocall featuring a fake voice of President Biden was made to residents, encouraging them to refuse to vote. As it was the first case of deepfake misuse in a nationwide U.S. election, the shock was significant.
The voice, which closely resembled President Biden’s manner of speaking, was a cleverly synthesized robocall using artificial intelligence (AI). At the time, a magician named Paul Carpenter confessed to being the creator of the robocall on Kramer’s request, but Kramer denied the charges. However, after evidence of mobile phone messages and financial transactions was presented, he admitted to being behind it.
Kramer, a veteran political consultant mainly active for the Democratic Party centered in New York, was revealed to have had a contract worth hundreds of thousands of dollars with the campaign of Congressman Dean Phillips, who challenged President Biden at the time of the incident. He explained that he carried out this act not to harm President Biden or interfere with the election, but to urge regulation of AI deepfakes. He also strongly denied allegations that the Phillips campaign instructed him to create the fake calls. Congressman Phillips, after poor results in the New Hampshire primary and other primaries, voluntarily withdrew from the race in March and declared support for President Biden.
New Hampshire and federal authorities have expressed a firm stance that they will not tolerate the misuse of new technologies such as AI. Shortly after the incident, in February, the FCC took measures to ban the use of audio deepfakes in telephone marketing. In this year, the ‘year of elections,’ many countries around the world are facing emergencies as fake information is being spread through the misuse of audio deepfakes.
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