Deepfake Regulation in Election Communications (SB 25)
MT Election Deepfake Law
Artificial intelligence
Montana bars distributing AI-generated or synthetic 'deepfakes' of candidates or parties in election communications within 60 days of an election unless a prescribed disclosure says the content was significantly edited by AI. On September 16, 2026, a federal court preliminarily enjoined enforcement of the law, but only as to the plaintiffs, in Accountability in State Government v. Knudsen, No. 6:26-cv-00038-SPW (D. Mont.).
- Where
- Montana
- Citation
- Mont. Code Ann. 13-35-801 to 13-35-804
- Status
- In force
- In force since
- 2025-10-01
- Enforced by
- Montana Commissioner of Political Practices; county attorneys and Attorney General for criminal referrals; aggrieved candidates or parties (injunction)
- People can sue
- Limited
- Penalties
- Candidates or parties may obtain expedited injunctions, fees, and actual damages (13-35-803). Commissioner civil penalties for a first sufficiency finding; misdemeanor (up to $500 and 6 months) on a second; felony (up to $5,000 and 2 years) on a third (13-35-804).
- Applies to
- Persons, corporations, committees, political parties and other entities distributing election or electioneering communications within 60 days of an election (13-35-802(1))
- Exempts bona fide news coverage, paid broadcasts, satire and parody, distribution platforms with conforming disclaimer rules, and Section 230 interactive computer services (13-35-802(2))
What a privacy notice must say
- Election communications containing a deepfake distributed within 60 days of an election must carry the statutory AI disclosure, sized and placed per medium (12-point bold print, 4% of video height, visible online without action, or 8 seconds of audio).Mont. Code Ann. 13-35-802(1)(b)-(c) · Only if: Communication knowingly contains a deepfake of a candidate or party
Practices it requires
- Do not distribute undisclosed deepfakes of candidates or political parties in election communications within 60 days of an election.Mont. Code Ann. 13-35-802(1)(a)
Sources
- Official text
- Mont. Code Ann. Title 13, ch. 35, part 8 (Montana Legislature, MCA 2025)
- SB 25 (2025) enrolled bill, Ch. 541, L. 2025
- Accountability in State Government v. Knudsen, No. 6:26-cv-00038-SPW (D. Mont.), Doc. 31, Order granting preliminary injunction (Sept. 16, 2026) (copy hosted by plaintiffs' counsel)
Checked against these sources on 2026-09-25 by research agent (Claude), primary sources.
Unverified: The September 16, 2026 order is a scanned PDF that could not be text-extracted; the limitation of the injunction to the named plaintiffs is from news reports (KPAX/MTN, Daily Montanan), not the order text. Status is left 'active' because the law remains enforceable against others. | Effective date inferred from the default October 1 rule; the fetched SB 25 enrolled text has no effective-date section. | Commissioner civil penalty amounts under 13-37-128 not checked.
Research reference, not legal advice.