Legislation1w ago
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HR8548Rep. Kamlager-Dove, Sydney [D-CA-37] (D-CA)
introduced
S3982119th CongressWALLET
AI Fraud Accountability Act of 2026
Sponsored By: Senator Sen. Sheehy, Tim [R-MT]
Introduced
Summary
criminal and civil enforcement against digital impersonation fraud. This bill would make creating realistic fake audio or video that impersonates a real or imaginary person to steal money, documents, or other value a federal offense and give the Federal Trade Commission a civil enforcement route against the practice.
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- People targeted by realistic digital impersonations would gain a federal criminal remedy. Perpetrators could face fines, up to 3 years in prison, mandatory forfeiture of proceeds and property used to commit the crime, and extraterritorial federal jurisdiction would apply. The bill exempts lawfully authorized investigative, protective, or intelligence activities.
- The Federal Trade Commission would be able to treat digital impersonation fraud as an unfair or deceptive act and use its full FTC Act enforcement powers against violators. The law also references private industries including financial services, health care, retail and e-commerce, telecommunications, and digital platforms as participants in rule development.
- The Director of the National Institute of Standards and Technology would convene a Working Group within 30 days to develop detection, prevention, and tracing best practices, publish a report within 1 year, and update it annually; the Working Group rules would sunset after 10 years. For cross-border enforcement, the FTC would identify the top 10 foreign source countries within 90 days and may seek cooperation agreements, and the Attorney General would review and, if needed, modify international law enforcement agreements with five-year reports.
*First Amendment protections for parody, satire, journalism, and related speech are preserved.*
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Bill Overview
Analyzed Economic Effects
5 provisions identified: 4 benefits, 0 costs, 1 mixed.
International cooperation on impersonation fraud
If enacted, the FTC, working with the Attorney General and Secretary of State, would identify the top 10 foreign countries that originate the most impersonation fraud against U.S. persons within 90 days. The FTC could then seek agreements with those countries to help enforce the law and must report to Congress within 1 year and annually after about agreements and cooperation problems. The Attorney General would review and, as consistent with law, modify international agreements to encourage foreign assistance within 1 year and at least every 5 years, and report to Congress every 5 years.
New federal AI impersonation crimes
If enacted, the bill would make it a federal crime to use digital audio or video to pose as a real or imaginary person to defraud someone across state lines or from abroad. A person convicted would face a fine under Title 18, up to 3 years imprisonment, or both. Courts would be required to forfeit gross proceeds and property used to commit the crime. The bill would also let the Federal Trade Commission treat the same conduct in commerce as an unfair or deceptive practice and use its usual civil remedies. Lawfully authorized investigative, protective, or intelligence activities by government agencies would be excluded.
NIST working group on digital impersonation
If enacted, the Commerce Secretary, through the NIST Director, would convene a working group within 30 days to develop best practices to detect, prevent, and trace digital impersonations. The group would include DOJ, FTC, law enforcement, industry, and technical experts and must hold at least one public workshop. NIST would publish best practices within 1 year, update them by year 2 and at least annually after, and send annual reports to Congress. The working group would end 10 years after enactment.
First Amendment protections remain
If enacted, the bill would say that nothing in the Act should be read to restrict parody, satire, journalism, or other rights protected by the First Amendment. The provision clarifies that enforcement is not meant to limit constitutionally protected speech.
Preserve law enforcement liability exceptions
If enacted, the bill would add the new digital impersonation rule to an existing Communications Act exception so that lawfully authorized investigative, protective, or intelligence activities are not treated as violations. The change mainly preserves a legal defense for government agencies and for some providers when those official activities would otherwise be implicated.
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Sponsors & CoSponsors
Sponsor
Sen. Sheehy, Tim [R-MT]
MT • R
Cosponsors
Rep. Blunt Rochester, Lisa [D-DE-At Large]
DE • D
Sponsored 3/4/2026
Roll Call Votes
No roll call votes available for this bill.
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