Distribution of materially deceptive media; prohibited; penalties
HRS §11-303
in effect11-303. Distribution of materially deceptive media; prohibited; penalties
(a) Except as provided in subsections (b) and (c), no person shall recklessly distribute, or enter into an agreement with another person to distribute, between the first working day of February in every even-numbered year through the next general election, materially deceptive media in reckless disregard of the risk of harming the reputation or electoral prospects of a candidate in an election or changing the voting behavior of voters in an election.
(b) Subsection (a) shall not apply to:
(1) A broadcaster, cable
operator, or direct-to-home satellite provider unless it was involved in the
creation of the materially deceptive media; or
(2) An interactive computer
service, cloud service provider, or streaming service for content provided by
another person or a developer or provider of any technology used in the
creation of materially deceptive media, unless the interactive computer
service, cloud service provider, or streaming service has knowledge that the
content is deceptive and intends to deceive a resident of the State.
(c) Subsection (a) shall not apply if the
media includes a disclaimer informing the viewer that the media has been
manipulated by technical means and depicts appearance, speech, or conduct that
did not occur; provided that:
(1) If the media is a video, the disclaimer shall:
(A) Appear throughout the entirety of the
video;
(B) Be clearly visible to and readable by an
observer;
(C) Be in letters at least as large as the
largest size of any text communication; and
(D) Be in the same language as the language
used in the video media;
(2) If the media is an image, the disclaimer shall:
(A) Be clearly visible to and readable by the
observer;
(B) Be in letters at least as large as the
largest text in the image if the media contains other text; and
(C) Be in the same language as the language
used in the image media;
(3) If the media consists of only audio and contains
no video or image, the disclaimer shall be read:
(A) At the beginning and end of the media in
a clearly spoken manner;
(B) In a pitch that can be easily heard by
the listener; and
(C) In the same language as the audio media;
and
(4) If the media was generated by editing or creating
new media from an existing video, image, or audio, the media shall include a
citation directing the viewer or listener to the original sources from which
the unedited version of the existing videos, images, or audios were obtained or
generated.
(d) Unless otherwise specified in this
section, a person who violates this section shall be guilty of a petty
misdemeanor.
(e) A person who violates this section within
five years of a previous conviction for a violation of this section shall be
guilty of a misdemeanor.
(f) A person who violates this section with
the intent to cause violence or bodily harm shall be guilty of a class C
felony.
(g) The commission may assess a fine for a
violation of this section or refer a violation of this section for criminal
prosecution under subpart I.
(h) For the purposes of this section:
"Artificial intelligence" means a
machine-based system that can, for a given set of human-defined objectives,
make predictions, recommendations, or decisions influencing real or virtual
environments, and that uses machine and human-based inputs to:
(1) Perceive real and virtual environments;
(2) Abstract perceptions of real and virtual
environments into models through analysis in an automated manner; and
(3) Use model inference to formulate opinions for
information or action.
"Cloud service provider" means a
third-party company that provides scalable computing resources that businesses
can access on demand over a network, including cloud-based computing, storage,
platform, and application services.
"Direct-to-home satellite provider"
has the same meaning as defined in title 47 United States Code section 303(v).
"Distribute" means to convey
information by any means.
"Interactive computer service" has
the same meaning as defined in title 47 United States Code section 230(f)(2).
"Materially deceptive media" means
any information, including any video, image, or audio, that:
(1) Is an advertisement;
(2) Depicts an individual engaging in speech or
conduct in which the depicted individual did not in fact engage;
(3) Would cause a reasonable viewer or listener to
believe that the depicted individual engaged in the speech or conduct depicted;
and
(4) Was created by:
(A) Generative adversarial network techniques
or another technique that translates a source image into another image using
machine learning, deep learning techniques, and convolutional neural networks;
(B) Artificial intelligence; or
(C) Digital technology.
[L 2024, c 191, pt of
§2]
Source: Hawaii State Legislature (capitol.hawaii.gov), via Internet Archive capturesURL: http://www.capitol.hawaii.gov/hrscurrent/Vol01_Ch0001-0042F/HRS0011/HRS_0011-0303.htmFetched: 11/10/2026