Press Release: 6/15/2026

MBA joins 50-state letter supporting AI protections for journalists, personalities

 

Fri, June 12 by Jordan

The Massachusetts Broadcasters Association joined a letter to U.S. House and Senate leadership supporting the Nurture Originals, Foster Art, and Keep Entertainment Safe (“NO FAKES”) Act.  Read the full text of the letter below.

Dear Leaders Thune and Schumer, Speaker Johnson and Leader Jeffries:

On behalf of the undersigned broadcasters’ associations representing local, over-the-air broadcast stations

in all 50 states, including the District of Columbia and the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, we write today

in support of the Support the Nurture Originals, Foster Art, and Keep Entertainment Safe (“NO FAKES”)

Act of 2026. Amid the ongoing, rapid expansion of generative artificial intelligence (“AI”), the NO

FAKES Act would create important guardrails for the use of digital replicas without unduly restricting

the potential benefits that generative AI can contribute to the broadcast and creative industries now and in

the future.

This bipartisan legislation would protect the voice and visual likeness of all individuals, including the

most trusted broadcast news anchors and local on-air personalities, from unauthorized computergenerated

recreations made by generative AI. It would also provide important exclusions for use of

digital replicas in certain bona fide news reporting and broadcasting, as well as commentary, criticism,

scholarship satire, parody, and other First Amendment speech.

At a time when misinformation and disinformation run rampant online and on social media, America’s

hometown broadcasters are committed to serving your constituents with trusted local news, information

and entertainment programming that brings our communities together. But nonconsensual voice and

image clones can sever that trust, ruin reputations and careers, and distort our public disclosure.

The NO FAKES Act would create a federal remedy, while also preserving certain state laws, for

individuals to fight back against abusive and manipulative deepfakes that threaten to disrupt that trust.

And while combatting misinformation, disinformation, misappropriation of content, and deepfakes is a

multifaced problem, the NO FAKES Act is a step in the right direction.

Thank you for your continued support of local broadcasters and for your careful consideration of the NO

FAKES Act.