Injunction Would Block N.H. Primary AI Robocallers From Repeating Crimes

The League of Women Voters seeks a preliminary injunction barring defendants Steve Kramer, broadband provider Lingo Telecom and robocall broadcaster Life Corp. from producing, generating or distributing AI-generated robocalls impersonating any person, without that person’s express, prior written consent, said its motion Friday (docket 1:24-cv-00073) in U.S. District Court for New Hampshire in Concord.

The league alleges that the defendants sent “thousands of robocalls” two days before the Jan. 23 New Hampshire primary to people they thought were likely Democratic voters, featuring deepfake simulations of President Joe Biden's voice (see 2403150034). The league alleges the robocalls “coercively” stated the falsehood that by participating in the New Hampshire primary, Democratic voters would lose their vote in the November general election. The league’s co-plaintiffs are its New Hampshire chapter and three voters who received the robocalls.

The injunction would also bar the defendants from distributing spoofed telephone calls, text messages or any other form of spoofed communication, said the motion. It would also block them from distributing phone calls, text messages or other mass communications that don’t comply with all applicable state and federal laws “or that are made for an unlawful purpose,” it said.

The defendants’ attempts to coerce voters into abstaining from the New Hampshire primary violate the Telephone Consumer Protection Act, Section 11(b) of the Voting Rights Act and New Hampshire election laws, said the plaintiffs’ memorandum of law in support of their motion. “Once a voter is dissuaded from voting in an election due to intimidation, threat, or deception, that right cannot be recovered,” it said. The defendants’ robocalls “created serious consequences for New Hampshire voters and the state’s presidential primary election, and can be easily and swiftly repeated before other upcoming U.S. local, state, and federal elections,” it said.

The defendants have already demonstrated their willingness and ability “to execute a mass voter suppression scheme less than 48 hours before an election, quickly and at minimal costs,” said the memorandum. In light of “the significant harm” posed to voters before upcoming elections, the plaintiffs seek a preliminary injunction to enjoin the defendants “from disseminating or facilitating the dissemination of similarly misrepresented, spoofed, or deepfaked robocalls,” it said.