---
type: "Bill"
title: "AN ACT TO AMEND TITLE 15 OF THE DELAWARE CODE RELATING TO DEEP FAKES IN ELECTIONS."
description: "This Act creates a new elections crime: “use of deep fake technology to influence an election.” Under this statute it would be a crime to distribute within 90 days of an election a “deep fake” – that is an audio or visual depiction that has been manipulated or created with generative adversarial network techniques, with the intent of harming a party or candidate or otherwise deceiving voters. It is not a crime, nor is there a penalty, if the altered media contains a disclaimer stating “This audio/video/image has been altered or artificially generated.” There is also provision for civil injunctive relief for a candidate depicted in a deep fake. There are various exceptions to protect speech, expression, and media rights. A violation of this statute is a class B misdemeanor unless the deepfake is intended to cause violence or bodily harm, in which case it is a class A misdemeanor, or if it is a repeat offense within 5 years, in which case it is a class E felony. Pursuant to § 5101 of Title 15, all offenses under this section are heard in Superior Court."
jurisdiction: "us/states/de"
legislature: "Delaware General Assembly"
session: "152"
identifier: "HB 316"
citation: "Delaware HB 316 (152)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: []
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Brian Pettyjohn", "Bryan Townsend", "Cyndie Romer", "Marie Pinkney", "Michael Ramone", "Nicole Poore", "Paul S. Baumbach", "Russell Huxtable", "Sean Matthews", "Valerie Longhurst"]
version_count: 4
action_count: 14
vote_count: 3
first_action: "2024-03-21"
last_action: "2024-10-09"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/a4a4f618-4ef1-4257-8bb5-b8027de1d1b2"
source_url: "https://legis.delaware.gov/BillDetail?LegislationId=141109"
source_hash: "b43e5ce613b4cca219a74e21cd7907d27a0cb27e37aaf85df82f2c523ba2d082"
vintage: "2026-07-01"
source_snapshot: "https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump"
retrieved_at: "2026-07-06"
confidence: "reported"
tags: ["legislation", "bill", "us-de"]
---

# Delaware HB 316 (152) — AN ACT TO AMEND TITLE 15 OF THE DELAWARE CODE RELATING TO DEEP FAKES IN ELECTIONS.

This Act creates a new elections crime: “use of deep fake technology to influence an election.” Under this statute it would be a crime to distribute within 90 days of an election a “deep fake” – that is an audio or visual depiction that has been manipulated or created with generative adversarial network techniques, with the intent of harming a party or candidate or otherwise deceiving voters. It is not a crime, nor is there a penalty, if the altered media contains a disclaimer stating “This audio/video/image has been altered or artificially generated.” There is also provision for civil injunctive relief for a candidate depicted in a deep fake. There are various exceptions to protect speech, expression, and media rights. A violation of this statute is a class B misdemeanor unless the deepfake is intended to cause violence or bodily harm, in which case it is a class A misdemeanor, or if it is a repeat offense within 5 years, in which case it is a class E felony. Pursuant to § 5101 of Title 15, all offenses under this section are heard in Superior Court.

## Version chain

The bill's text revisions, in order — the diff chain from filing to enrollment.

1. **Bill Text** (committee substitute) — [source](https://legis.delaware.gov/json/BillDetail/GenerateHtmlDocument?legislationId=141109&legislationTypeId=6&docTypeId=2&legislationName=HS1forHB316)
2. **HA 1 to HS 1 for HB 316** (committee substitute) — [source](http://legis.delaware.gov/json/BillDetail/GeneratePdfDocument?legislationId=141198&legislationTypeId=5&docTypeId=2)
3. **HA 2 to HS 1 for HB 316** (committee substitute) — [source](http://legis.delaware.gov/json/BillDetail/GeneratePdfDocument?legislationId=141335&legislationTypeId=5&docTypeId=2)
4. **SA 1 to HS 1 for HB 316** (committee substitute) — [source](http://legis.delaware.gov/json/BillDetail/GeneratePdfDocument?legislationId=141683&legislationTypeId=5&docTypeId=2)

## Votes

- SM — **40–1** (pass) · lower
- SM — **37–0** (pass) · lower
- SM — **21–0** (pass) · upper

## Sponsors

- Brian Pettyjohn — primary (person)
- Bryan Townsend — primary (person)
- Cyndie Romer — primary (person)
- Marie Pinkney — primary (person)
- Michael Ramone — primary (person)
- Nicole Poore — primary (person)
- Paul S. Baumbach — primary (person)
- Russell Huxtable — primary (person)
- Sean Matthews — primary (person)
- Valerie Longhurst — primary (person)

## Timeline

The legislative action history — every referral, reading, and vote.

- **2024-03-21** Adopted in lieu of the original bill HB 316, and Assigned to Administration Committee in House `introduction, referral-committee`
- **2024-04-16** Amendment HA 1 to HS 1 - Introduced and Placed With Bill `amendment-introduction`
- **2024-04-24** Reported Out of Committee (Administration) in House with 5 On Its Merits `committee-passage`
- **2024-05-09** Amendment HA 2 to HS 1 - Introduced and Placed With Bill `amendment-introduction`
- **2024-05-09** Amendment HA 1 to HS 1 - Passed In House by Voice Vote `amendment-passage`
- **2024-05-09** Amendment HA 2 to HS 1 - Passed In House by Voice Vote `amendment-passage`
- **2024-05-09** Passed By House. Votes: 37 YES 2 NOT VOTING 2 ABSENT `passage`
- **2024-05-09** Assigned to Elections & Government Affairs Committee in Senate `introduction, referral-committee`
- **2024-06-12** Reported Out of Committee (Elections & Government Affairs) in Senate with 7 On Its Merits `committee-passage`
- **2024-06-26** Amendment SA 1 to HS 1 - Introduced and Placed With Bill `amendment-introduction`
- **2024-06-27** Amendment SA 1 to HS 1 - Passed By Senate. Votes: 21 YES `amendment-passage`
- **2024-06-27** Passed By Senate. Votes: 21 YES `passage`
- **2024-06-30** Passed By House. Votes: 40 YES 1 NO `passage`
- **2024-10-09** Signed by Governor `executive-signature`

## Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/a4a4f618-4ef1-4257-8bb5-b8027de1d1b2`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Delaware legislature records).