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Senate Judiciary advances NO FAKES Act unanimously, putting $750,000 liability on unauthorized AI voice and likeness replicas

· by Pondero Newsdesk

The short version

The Senate Judiciary Committee passed the NO FAKES Act by voice vote on June 18, giving every American a federal IP right over their voice and likeness and exposing platforms to $750,000 per unauthorized deepfake that goes unremoved.

Senate Judiciary advances NO FAKES Act unanimously, putting $750,000 liability on unauthorized AI voice and likeness replicas

The Senate Judiciary Committee passed the NO FAKES Act by voice vote on June 18, creating for the first time a federal intellectual property right over every individual's voice and visual likeness. Platforms that fail to remove unauthorized AI-generated replicas face fines of up to $750,000 per work.

What

The bill, formally the Nurture Originals, Foster Art, and Keep Entertainment Safe Act (S. 4591), was introduced by Sen. Chris Coons (D-Del.) and carries 15 co-sponsors drawn from both parties, including seven Democrats and eight Republicans. Senators Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.) and Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.) are named by Roll Call as "particular proponents" of the legislation.

The core mechanism is an individual IP right. Any person, not just public figures, would own their voice and visual likeness under federal law. Distributing unauthorized deepfakes would be prohibited, as would offering a product or service primarily designed to create them. Platforms face the $750,000-per-embodiment penalty only when they fail to make a good-faith removal effort after notice. The bill includes exemptions for parody, news, and documentaries, and a counter-notification process for content flagged in error.

A manager's amendment adopted at the markup added protection for the estates of people who died within the 10 years preceding the bill's enactment, establishing a registration process for their voice and likeness rights, per Roll Call's reporting.

Why it matters

For anyone building or deploying AI voice and video tools, the bill defines the liability surface clearly: generate or distribute a replica without consent, and federal IP claims attach. Platforms host user-generated content face the steepest exposure. A $750,000 penalty per unauthorized work is enough to make even large platforms move quickly on removal pipelines.

The bipartisan co-sponsor count (15, split nearly evenly across parties) is unusual for AI-adjacent legislation in the current Congress. It signals that voice and likeness protection has broader political support than the more contested debates around AI transparency or liability in general. Blackburn framed NO FAKES as "a critical component" of a broader AI rulebook she is assembling alongside the Kids Online Safety Act, which suggests the bill could move as part of a larger package rather than standalone.

Industry response split visibly at the markup. SAG-AFTRA collected more than 16,000 signatures in an open letter supporting the bill. TikTok and Google's YouTube both stated public support. NetChoice, the trade group representing many large platforms, said in a statement the bill "creates a dangerous financial incentive for platforms to aggressively over-remove lawful content" and described the counter-notification system as unworkable.

Senators Ted Cruz (R-Texas), Mike Lee (R-Utah), Alex Padilla (D-Calif.), and Eric Schmitt (R-Mo.) each flagged First Amendment concerns during the markup. Lee said the bill "raises some potentially significant concerns regarding free speech" and that he hoped to work with sponsors on revisions before a floor vote.

Context

The bill draws directly from Tennessee's ELVIS Act, a 2024 state law that created voice and likeness rights and included protections for recording contracts held by music labels. The federal NO FAKES Act includes a similar provision for label rights. Blackburn, who is running for governor of Tennessee, helped build the state-level framework and has been pushing a federal counterpart since.

The committee vote sends the bill to the full Senate. No floor date has been set. Blackburn's office has indicated she is negotiating with the White House on a larger AI legislative package that would include NO FAKES alongside KOSA and age-verification requirements.

What to watch next

A Senate floor vote is the next milestone. Watch whether the House companion bill advances simultaneously, and whether platforms begin building compliant removal pipelines ahead of potential passage. If NO FAKES folds into the broader Blackburn package, the timeline compresses but the final text could shift on First Amendment grounds before a floor vote.

Sources