Hughes Addresses “Deep Fake News”

AUSTIN –The 2016 election brought us “fake news,” but what we will see in 2020 will be a lot worse — and the Texas Legislature is trying to get ahead of it, with an East Texan leading the charge. It’s called a “deep fake.” It is a video produced using artificial intelligence that makes it very convincingly appear that a person is saying something outrageous — like Donald Trump endorsing the Green New Deal. East Texas state Senator Bryan Hughes says his bill would punish any candidates or activists who post “deep fake” videos within 30 days of the election. Hughes says the bill would “allow us to hold that person accountable criminally and hopefully deter someone from doing this in the future.” But since deep fakes are so hard to spot, some senators asked whether the law would be used by candidates to make allegations against an opponent right before Election Day.