Law / United States / 
Montana
Deepfake Regulation Act (SB 25, 2025), election deepfake disclosure
Mont. Code Ann. 13-35-801 to 13-35-804
In force since , under challenge in court.
An AI transparency rule binding public and private bodies.
- Obligation class
- Prohibition, Disclosure
- Audit expectation
- none
- Setting the rule reaches
- Elections
- Court action
A suit challenging this law is pending. No court has blocked it. Premium data
What it requires
- Do not pay for or sponsor the production, creation, or distribution of an election or electioneering communication you knew or should have known is a deepfake of a candidate or political party, within 60 days of the start of voting
- The prohibition does not apply if the communication carries the statutory disclosure that it was significantly edited by artificial intelligence and falsely appears authentic, in the required font size, screen height, or audio duration for its medium
- Bona fide news coverage carrying its own AI-use disclaimer, satire or parody, and certain broadcaster and distribution-platform conduct are exempted
- An interactive computer service is not liable for content another party provided
These lines are LexLint's reading of the law's text. Also read by: Accountability in State Government v. Knudsen, No. 6:26-cv-00038 (D. Mont. ) (recorded ).
In the frameworks
- NIST AI RMF
- MAP 3.3Targeted application scope is specified and documented based on the system’s capability, established context, and AI system categorization.
- NIST AI 600-1
- GAI-RISK-08Information Integrity
- GAI-RISK-11Obscene, Degrading, and/or Abusive Content
- MIT mitigations Draft
- FINOS AIGF
- AIR-PREV-005System Acceptance Testing
- ETSI EN 304 223
Our reading of where this law's duties sit in each framework. It never says that running a control meets the law. How we read a framework against the law
Identifiers refer to ETSI EN 304 223 V2.1.1 (2025-12), © ETSI 2025, all rights reserved. ETSI owns the standard; no ETSI text (titles or sentences) is reproduced here. The standard is free to download from ETSI.
If you get it wrong
Criminal exposureYes
Private right of actionYes
Criminal exposure note
A second sufficiency finding by the commissioner of political practices is referred for misdemeanor prosecution, punishable by a fine up to $500 or up to 6 months in county jail, or both. A third sufficiency finding is referred for felony prosecution, punishable by a fine up to $5,000 or up to 2 years in state prison, or both.
Penalty structure
First sufficiency finding: civil penalty under Mont. Code Ann. 13-37-128 (up to $500, or three times the amount of an unlawful contribution or expenditure, whichever is greater). Second sufficiency finding: misdemeanor, fine up to $500 or up to 6 months in county jail, or both. Third sufficiency finding: felony, fine up to $5,000 or up to 2 years in state prison, or both.
- Rule
- Fixed only
- As of
- Currency
- USD
- Fixed cap
- 5,000
Who enforces it
Enforcement body
Montana Commissioner of Political Practices (complaints and sufficiency findings), with county attorneys and the Attorney General prosecuting referred cases; a candidate or political party representing the candidate may also sue.
Settledness
On the U.S. District Court for the District of Montana granted a preliminary injunction barring defendants Austin Knudsen, Kevin Downs, and Chris Gallus from reviewing, investigating, prosecuting, adjudicating, or enforcing the Act against the named plaintiffs; the order names only those plaintiffs.
- As of
- Case link
- https://www.govinfo.gov/app/details/USCOURTS-mtd-6_26-cv-00038/USCOURTS-mtd-6_26-cv-00038-1
- Case citation
- Accountability in State Government v. Knudsen, No. 6:26-cv-00038 (D. Mont. )
- Under challenge
- Yes
- Open questions
- Does the prohibition on paying for or sponsoring an undisclosed deepfake of a candidate within 60 days of the initiation of voting survive First Amendment scrutiny as a content-based restriction on political speech?
What it makes you log
Logging duty
Sections 13-35-801 through 13-35-804 prohibit paying for or sponsoring an undisclosed election deepfake and set out the required disclosure, exemptions, civil relief, and penalties. None of the four sections requires anyone to log, record, or otherwise document a deepfake, a disclosure, or a sponsorship decision.
- Kind
- None
- As of
What this law does
Within 60 days of the start of voting in an election where a candidate appears on the ballot, a person, corporation, committee, political party, or other entity working in an official election capacity may not pay for or sponsor an election or electioneering communication it knew or should have known is a deepfake of a candidate or political party, unless the communication carries a prescribed disclosure that it has been significantly edited by artificial intelligence and depicts speech or conduct that falsely appears to be authentic or truthful.
The disclosure must meet format rules by medium (minimum font size, screen height, or audio duration and placement), and the prohibition exempts bona fide news coverage with an AI-use disclaimer, satire or parody, certain broadcaster and distribution platform conduct, and an interactive computer service for content another party provided.
A candidate or political party depicted may seek injunctive relief and, on proof of a violation by clear and convincing evidence, recover actual damages, up to $10,000 in punitive damages, and attorney fees and costs.
A first sufficiency finding by the commissioner of political practices draws a civil penalty; a second draws misdemeanor prosecution (fine up to $500 or up to 6 months in county jail, or both); a third draws felony prosecution (fine up to $5,000 or up to 2 years in state prison, or both).
A First Amendment challenge to this scheme, brought over mailers depicting two primary candidates, produced an order on in which the United States District Court for the District of Montana granted a preliminary injunction against reviewing, investigating, prosecuting, adjudicating, or enforcing the Act against the named plaintiffs; the order names only those plaintiffs, and the statute otherwise remains in force.
The Deepfake Regulation Act (Chapter 541, Laws of Montana 2025) carries no effective-date clause of its own, so it takes effect under Montana's general rule, Mont. Code Ann. 1-2-201, on the first day of October following its passage and approval; the Legislature's own bill-history record lists Chapter 541's effective date as .
When LexLint raises it
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