FCC fines political consultant $6 million for deepfake robocalls

The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has officially issued its full recommended fine against political consultant Steve Kramer for a series of illegal robocalls using deepfake AI technology and caller ID spoofing during the New Hampshire primaries. Kramer must pay $6 million in fines in the next 30 days or the Department of Justice will handle collection, according to .

Kramer violated the passed in 2009 that prohibits anyone from “knowingly transmit misleading or inaccurate caller identification information with the intent to defraud, cause harm or wrongfully obtain anything of value,” according to legislative records. The law preceded the widespread usage of AI, but the FCC voted to have it apply to such deepfakes this past February.

The phony robocalls delivered pre-recorded audio of President Biden’s voice using deepfake AI technology to New Hampshire residents leading up to the 2024 presidential primary election. The phony President Biden told voters not to vote in the upcoming primary saying “Your vote makes a difference in November, not this Tuesday,” according to an earlier report from . The robocalls were spoofed so as to appear to originate from the former chairwoman of the New Hampshire Democratic Party, according to the .

Kramer hired New Orleans magician (no, really, an actual magician) Paul Carpenter to make the phony recordings. Carpenter showed how he made the deepfake audio files of President Biden using an AI voice generator called ElevenLabs. The recordings, he claims, only took around 20 minutes to make. Carpenter says Kramer paid him through Venmo and he thought the work he was doing was authorized by President Biden’s campaign. Eleven Labs has since shut down Carpenter’s account.

Kramer claims he sent the robocalls to raise awareness about the dangers and misuse of the technology. His apparent experiment only cost him $500 but, according to the political consultant, resulted in a massive return. “For me to do that and get $5 million worth of exposure, not for me,” Kramer told CBS New York. “I kept myself anonymous so the regulations could just play themselves out or begin to play themselves out. I don’t need to be famous. That’s not my intention. My intention was to make a difference.”

Kramer doesn’t just face a hefty FCC fine, he’s also facing criminal charges. announced last May that Kramer received 13 felony counts of voter suppression and 13 misdemeanor counts of impersonation of a candidate.