Could Trump’s AI-Generated Endorsement of Taylor Swift Be Illegal?

Former President Donald Trump released a set of memes on Truth Social — a platform owned by his media company — that make it appear to be Taylor Swift and her fans are endorsing his candidacy. But with latest regulations coming into effect, those images could have deeper implications for the use of AI-generated imagery in political campaigns, especially when the photographs misrepresent a celeb’s image.

“One of the things I see a lot in my practice right now is the rise of AI impersonators for endorsements,” mental property and entertainment attorney Noah Downs told TechCrunch on the condition that his comments not be considered legal advice. These fake AI endorsements have turn out to be so common that even “Shark Tank” needed to publish Public announcement to warn fans in regards to the rampant number of scams posing as investors within the show.

In one photo Trump posted, throngs of young women wear matching T-shirts that read “Swifties for Trump.” While Swift’s large fan base is indeed politically diverse, these photos seem like generated by artificial intelligence—in actual fact, these particular photos come from satirical post on X

Another meme Trump posted is a screenshot from X of Taylor Swift playing Uncle Sam, declaring, “Taylor wants you to vote for Donald Trump.”

While the pop icon has yet to comment on the 2024 US presidential election, she has expressed support Biden-Harris campaign in 2020 and publicly defamed Trump on the time. Some fans speculated that Swift subtly endorsed Harris in an Instagram post this month, although it wasn’t that case.

As one of essentially the most dominant figures in popular culture, Swift has been the topic of her justifiable share of deepfakes. When nonconsensual, explicit AI images of Swift surfaced on the X earlier this 12 months, some lawmakers responded by introducing latest laws geared toward protecting against deepfakesEven White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre called on Congress to take motion.

Eight months later, the landscape of legal protections against misleading synthetic media looks different. In Tennessee, where Swift’s corporate headquarters are situated, Gov. Bill Lee signed a pioneering bill in March ELVIS Act to a law that explicitly protects artists against unauthorized imitations of their works by artificial intelligence.

“This legislation passed with bipartisan support because everyone seems to recognize the problems that AI and the misuse of AI tools can create for society,” Downs said.

But since the ELVIS Act is so latest, there’s no precedent for the way it may very well be used to guard artists. Much of the laws’s language focuses specifically on AI-generated audio that may mimic an artist’s voice, just like the viral Drake song that turned out to be fake.

“I think this is going to be a long-term issue that the ELVIS Act will address very well, but we need to have more stringent national laws on this,” Downs said. The only reason the ELVIS Act could potentially come into play is because of Swift’s ties to the state where she does business and has real estate interests.

Avi D. Kelin, a partner at PEM Law who practices political law, isn’t optimistic in regards to the possibility of the ELVIS Act being applied, because it appears to be more about audio impersonation than video. Instead, he wonders whether it could turn out to be a federal election integrity issue in the longer term.

“A particular question is whether the Federal Election Commission, which has jurisdiction over political communications, will get involved,” Kelin told TechCrunch. However, he said the FEC is unlikely to implement latest guidelines on AI-generated political communications this election cycle.

The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has announced that it intends to proceed with its plans to introduce latest AI Transparency Requirements in TV and radio ads. But that doesn’t apply to social media posts by politicians running for presidency office, and social media stays a key part of campaign communications. Meanwhile, research from the Center for Countering Digital Hate (CCDH), a British nonprofit focused on online extremism, found that the quantity of AI-generated disinformation has increased by a median of 130% per thirty days on X over the past 12 months.

These insincere endorsements matter a lot because Swift’s endorsement is arguably essentially the most coveted celebrity endorsement a politician can get. Her cultural influence is so vast that her endorsement of a candidate can tip the scales in a detailed race, in accordance with Morning consultationgreater than half of U.S. adults consider themselves Taylor Swift fans, while 16% discover as die-hard fans. These numbers are staggering given the context that only about two thirds eligible Americans solid ballots within the 2020 election.

“(The ELVIS Act) is completely new, and the exact parameters will have to be worked out by the courts,” Kelin said. “It would certainly be an interesting test case!”