A wireless provider that allowed President Joe Biden’s deepfake robocalls to be transmitted to potential voters in the state during New Hampshire’s Democratic primary has entered into a lawsuit with the FCC, according to an announcement Wednesday. (FCC) reached a settlement. Texas-based Lingo Telecom will pay a $1 million civil penalty for voter suppression.
The controversy over Biden’s fake call first began when Minnesota Democratic Rep. Dean Phillips’ presidential campaign hired a political consultant named Steve Kramer , Dean Phillips tried unsuccessfully to defeat Biden for the party nomination. Cramer reportedly used artificial intelligence cloning technology to make phone calls that sounded like President Biden’s, including a script that sounded like he didn’t want his supporters to vote for him in this January’s New Hampshire primary.
Lingo Telecom did not create the automated calls but allowed them to travel on its network, which the FCC said violated the agency’s so-called “know your customer” (KYC) and “know your upstream provider” (KYUP) rules. The Phillips campaign said Cramer acted independently and had no knowledge or authorization of Biden’s fake calls. Although Cramer faces a proposed fine of $6 million, final penalties from the FCC are still pending.
Incredibly, these fake robocalls are both a high-risk endeavor with little to no reward for the candidates they are supposed to help. Although Phillips campaigned hard in New Hampshire, he received less than 20% of the vote in New Hampshire. Biden received nearly 64% of the vote, with Marianne Williamson receiving just 4%. But robocalls and FCC enforcement may deter any other mainstream political campaigns that might consider similar tactics in the future.
“Each of us should know that the voice on the phone is who they say it is,” FCC Chairman Jessica Rosenworcel said in a press release. “If artificial intelligence is being used, any consumer who encounters it, Citizens and voters should know this. When trust in our communications networks is threatened, the FCC will take action.
The FCC announcement noted that in addition to the fine, Lingo has agreed to make three changes to ensure it knows who is using its wireless network:
- Level A authentication is only applied to calls where Lingo Telecom itself has provided the caller with a caller ID number (this is the highest level of trust for phone numbers)
- Verify the identity and business scope of each customer and upstream supplier by obtaining independent supporting records
- Only transmit traffic from upstream providers with strong automated call mitigation capabilities
Mechanisms are in place to respond to retrospective requests.
The FCC also develops enforcement actions from the perspective that U.S. overseas geopolitical adversaries may seek to influence U.S. elections. It should be noted, however, that this was an entirely domestic operation led by an American who wanted to boost Phillips.
“Whether it is domestic agents seeking political advantage or sophisticated foreign adversaries conducting malicious influence or election interference campaigns, the potential combination of misuse of AI-generated voice cloning technology and caller ID spoofing on U.S. communications networks poses a significant threat,” FCC Enforcement Commissioner Loyaan A. Egal said in a press release. “This settlement sends a strong message that communications service providers are the first line of defense against these threats and will be held accountable to ensure they are doing their part to protect the American public.”
