A New Orleans man is facing felony charges and millions of dollars in fines over artificial-intelligence generated robocalls faking the voice of President Joe Biden and urging people not to vote in New Hampshire’s Jan. 23 presidential primary, state and federal officials said Thursday.
Steven Kramer, 54, has been indicted on 13 felony counts of voter suppression and 13 misdemeanor counts of impersonation of a candidate, NH Attorney General John Formella said in a news release on Thursday.
Thousands of calls went out to state residents two days before the primary, urging people to “save” their vote and telling them their vote “makes a difference in November, not this Tuesday."
The message additionally appeared to have been spoofed to falsely show that it had been sent by the treasurer of a political committee that had been supporting the New Hampshire Democratic Presidential Primary write-in efforts for President Biden.
“New Hampshire remains committed to ensuring that our elections remain free from unlawful interference and our investigation into this matter remains ongoing,” Formella said.
Meanwhile, in a separate news release on Thursday, the Federal Communications Commission said it is proposing that Kramer be fined $6 million over an alleged violation of the Truth in Caller ID Act, which prohibits sending inaccurate caller ID information.
The FCC said it is also proposing a $2 million fine against Texas-based Lingo Telecom, the telecommunications provider for the calls.
“We will act swiftly and decisively to ensure that bad actors cannot use U.S. telecommunications networks to facilitate the misuse of generative AI technology to interfere with elections, defraud consumers, or compromise sensitive data,” said Loyaan Egal, chief of the FCC’s Enforcement Bureau.
Formella said he hopes this case sends an important message.
“I am pleased to see that our federal partners are similarly committed to protecting consumers and voters from harmful robocalls and voter suppression," the attorney general said.
"I hope that our respective enforcement actions send a strong deterrent signal to anyone who might consider interfering with elections, whether through the use of artificial intelligence or otherwise.”
Attempts to reach Lingo Telecom and Kramer were unsuccessful on Thursday.
NBC News reported in late February that Kramer said in a statement and an interview that he planned the fake robocall as an act of civil disobedience to call attention to the dangers of AI in politics.
Biden decided not to have his name on the ballot for New Hampshire's first-in-the-nation primary because of a scheduling conflict with the election date proposed by the Democratic National Committee. He won the election anyway, with write-in votes.
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Rick Green can be reached at RGreen@KeeneSentinel.com or 603-355-8567.
These articles are being shared by partners in The Granite State News Collaborative. For more information visit collaborativenh.org.
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