Sen. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) is set to introduce two bills Monday that would force political influencers to disclose who's paying them and crack down on AI-generated deepfakes of candidates. The legislation, first reported by Semafor, comes as campaigns increasingly rely on social media influencers and artificial intelligence to reach voters—raising questions about whether existing political ad rules are keeping up.
The first bill, the Promoting Authenticity with Influencer Disclaimers Act, would amend the Federal Election Campaign Act to require political committees to disclose sponsorship in certain audiovisual and audio-only content they pay for. Think of it as a "paid promotion" label, but for politics.
The second proposal, the AI Ads Act, would extend existing restrictions on fraudulent candidate impersonation to cover AI-generated content. Schiff first introduced this bill in 2024 while serving in the House.
"California's primary this year made a clear case that our current guardrails around campaign advertisements are not keeping up with the changing landscape of political speech," Schiff said in a statement.
Schiff's office pointed to two California races as examples. Billionaire Tom Steyer's gubernatorial campaign spent millions on influencer content, while Republican Spencer Pratt's unsuccessful Los Angeles mayoral campaign used quick-turn AI-generated videos. Schiff's office did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The proposals arrive as concerns grow over how AI and social media could shape elections. Billionaire entrepreneur Mark Cuban warned in January that the 2026 cycle could become the first "AI driven election season," arguing that algorithms could increasingly shape voters' perceptions.
Those concerns extend beyond campaign advertising. OpenAI said in June that it disrupted alleged Chinese influence operations that used ChatGPT to create social media content aimed at influencing U.S. discussions around tariffs, AI and data centers.
The debate also comes amid disagreement over how aggressively Washington should regulate AI. Former White House AI policy adviser Sriram Krishnan said earlier this month that the Trump administration would not create an FDA-style centralized AI licensing body, arguing that such regulation could slow American innovation.
Schiff said disclosure requirements would give voters a clearer picture of who is funding political content while closing what he called a "pernicious loophole" in existing election rules.
