Sens. Portman, Peters move to create deepfake task force within DHS

U.S. Sens. Rob Portman (R-OH) and Gary Peters (D-MI) introduced legislation to help the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) counter the effects of deepfake technology.

Deepfakes are realistic, digital manipulations of real content that depict events that did not actually occur. Their bill, the Deepfake Task Force Act, would create a task force within the DHS charged with producing a coordinated plan to explore how a “digital content provenance” standard could reduce the spread of deepfakes. The task force would also develop tools for content creators to authenticate their content and its origin and increase the ability of civil society and industry leaders to relay trust and information about the source of the deepfakes to consumers.

“Deepfakes present a serious national security threat as bad actors use the technology to deceive thousands of people with misinformation and forgeries,” Peters, chair of the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, said. “This commonsense bipartisan bill will help strengthen our nation’s ability to combat malicious attempts to spread lies and further divide the American people.”

The task force, chaired by DHS, would be made up of experts from academia, government, civil society, and industry.

“Deepfakes represent a unique threat to our national security and our democracy,” Portman, ranking member on the committee, said. “For most of human history, seeing meant believing, but now that is becoming less and less true thanks to deepfakes. Combined with the network effects created by social media, fake videos or pictures can travel around the world in an instant, tricking citizens.”

The Deepfake Task Force Act builds on Portman’s Deepfake Report Act, which directs DHS to conduct an annual study of deepfakes and other types of similar content. The Deepfake Report Act passed the Senate last year as an amendment to the Senate’s FY 2021 National Defense Authorization Act.