New Hampshire voters sue Biden deepfake robocall creators

The League of Women Voters, based on NBC News reporting, is suing the creators of a deepfake robocall impersonating President Joe Biden that urged New Hampshire voters not to participate in the state’s presidential primary in January.

The century-old nonpartisan organization filed the lawsuit Thursday in federal district court in Concord on behalf of three New Hampshire voters who said they received the calls. The suit asked for injunctions and tens of thousands of dollars in damages from Democratic operative Steve Kramer and two telecom companies behind the call, Lingo Telecom and Life Corporation.

“These types of voter suppression tactics have no place in our democracy,” said Celina Stewart, chief counsel at the League of Women Voters of the United States. “For over 100 years, the League of Women Voters has worked to protect voters from these unlawful crimes and will continue to fight back against bad-faith actors who aim to disrupt our democratic system.”

Kramer’s spokesperson, Hank Sheinkopf, said Friday that his client had not yet received notice of the suit and declined to comment further.

Kramer acknowledged to NBC News last month that he commissioned the calls, but claims he did so in order to raise awareness about AI deepfakes, not to deceive people. His admission came after an acquaintance he paid to use AI software to create the audio came forward to NBC News.

Kramer previously said he had been subpoenaed by the Federal Communications Commission, which sped up plans to criminalize AI-generated robocalls in response to the Biden robocall.

The New Hampshire attorney general’s office, one of several law enforcement agencies looking into potential criminal violations, previously identified telemarketing firms Life