AI Ads Act

United StatesH.R.9985 (119th)Updated July 30, 2026

25%of the way to law
Bad for your rightsIntroduced
  1. Introduced
  2. Passed House
  3. Passed Senate
  4. Became Law

Introduced

Would ban "fraudulent" AI-made political ads, but with no carve-out for parody. Critics say it could catch obvious satire that courts protect.

Latest update

Introduced

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The bill

Read the full billOfficial bill record

Key facts

Where
United States
Bill number
H.R.9985 (119th)
Status
Introduced
Introduced
July 30, 2026
Threat
Medium
Last update
July 30, 2026

Topics

Censorship

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What it does

H.R.9985 (Ro Khanna, with a Senate companion led by Adam Schiff) would change federal election law to ban the "fraudulent" use of AI to impersonate a candidate or committee in federal campaign ads. It drops the current requirement to prove the fake caused real harm before a case can proceed.

What’s at stake

The bill has no carve-out for parody or satire. An earlier court said that even a disclaimer rule for parody "would kill the joke." By removing the harm test, the bill could reach obvious, stylized fakes that courts have long treated as protected speech.

Our take

Deepfake fear is being used to police political speech. With no parody carve-out and no harm test, this reaches jokes and satire, not just deception. That is a speech problem, not a fraud fix.

Timeline

  1. IntroducedLatest

The record

Sponsor

Ro Khanna (D-CA)

Cosponsors (1)

Veronica Escobar (D-TX)

Committee

Committee on House Administration

Last updated July 30, 2026