Maryland SB141 - Election Deepfakes and Misinformation Act
Summary
Maryland enacted SB141 prohibiting persons from knowingly or with reckless disregard creating, using, or disseminating deepfakes to produce materially false information about elections. The State Administrator of Elections must take action upon receiving credible reports of election misinformation, including deepfakes, by communicating correct information to the public. Violations are subject to civil actions and penalties.
What changed
Maryland SB141 establishes new prohibitions on election-related deepfakes, requiring the State Administrator of Elections to respond to credible reports of election misinformation or deepfakes by communicating correct information to the public. The bill prohibits creating or disseminating materially false deepfakes about elections and establishes civil penalties and private rights of action for violations.
Affected parties including political candidates, campaign organizations, and media entities should prepare for compliance by implementing policies on AI-generated content disclosure and monitoring for future implementing regulations from the State Administrator of Elections.
What to do next
- Monitor for future implementing regulations from the State Administrator of Elections
- Political organizations should implement disclosure procedures for AI-generated content
- Media entities should review content policies for deepfake compliance
Archived snapshot
Apr 15, 2026GovPing captured this document from the original source. If the source has since changed or been removed, this is the text as it existed at that time.
ChangeBridge / Maryland / SB141 Enrolled SB141 Senate Bill Enrolled 2026-04-14
Election Law - Election Misinformation, Election Disinformation, and Deepfakes
Requiring the State Administrator of Elections to take certain actions if the State Administrator receives a credible report that election misinformation or election disinformation, including a deepfake, has been or is being communicated, disseminated, or distributed; requiring the Administrator to communicate correct information to the public; prohibiting a person, under certain circumstances, from knowingly or with reckless disregard, creating, using or disseminating a deepfake to produce materially false information; etc.
Bill Details
State Maryland
Session 2026 Regular Session
Chamber Senate
Official Source mgaleg.maryland.gov/mgawebsite/Legislation...
LegiScan View on LegiScan
Sponsors
Katie Hester (Sen - D) Benjamin Brooks (Sen - D) Brian Feldman (Sen - D) Kevin Harris (Sen - D) Cheryl Kagan (Sen - D) Mary Washington (Sen - D)
Action History
2026-04-14 S Passed Enrolled 2026-04-13 H Third Reading Passed (85-38) 2026-04-13 H Conference Committee Report {173226/1 Adopted 2026-04-13 S Third Reading Passed (28-4) 2026-04-13 S Conference Committee Report {173226/1 Adopted 2026-04-13 S House Conference Committee Appointed (Delegates Fair, Clippinger and Tomlinson) 2026-04-13 S House Refuses Recede 2026-04-13 H House Conference Committee Appointed (Delegates Fair, Clippinger and Tomlinson) 2026-04-13 H House Refuses Recede 2026-04-13 H Senate Conference Committee Appointed (Senators Hester, Watson and Gallion) 2026-04-13 H Senate Requests House Recede 2026-04-13 H Senate Refuses Concur House Amendments 2026-04-13 S Senate Conference Committee Appointed (Senators Hester, Watson and Gallion) 2026-04-13 S Senate Requests House Recede 2026-04-13 S Senate Refuses Concur House Amendments 2026-04-10 H Third Reading Passed (95-35) 2026-04-09 H Second Reading Passed with Amendments 2026-04-09 H Motion Special Order until Next Session (Delegate Fair) Adopted 2026-04-09 H Favorable with Amendments {433522/1 Adopted 2026-04-09 H Favorable with Amendments Report by Government, Labor, and Elections 2026-03-24 H Hearing 4/01 at 1:00 p.m. 2026-02-13 H Referred Government, Labor, and Elections 2026-02-12 S Third Reading Passed (44-0) 2026-02-10 S Second Reading Passed with Amendments 2026-02-10 S Floor Amendment {253621/1 (Senator Hester) Adopted 2026-02-05 S Motion Special Order until 2/10 (Senator Hester) Adopted 2026-02-05 S Motion Returned Second Reading (Senator Hester) Adopted 2026-02-03 S Second Reading Passed with Amendments 2026-02-03 S Favorable with Amendments {103824/1 Adopted 2026-02-02 S Favorable with Amendments Report by Education, Energy, and the Environment 2026-01-14 S Hearing 1/21 at 11:00 a.m. 2026-01-14 S First Reading Education, Energy, and the Environment 2025-07-16 S Pre-filed
Votes
2026-02-12 Third Reading Passed Yea: 44 Nay: 0
Committee Referrals
2026-01-14 S Education, Energy, and the Environment 2026-02-13 H Government, Labor, and Elections
Amendments
2026-02-03 Favorable with Amendments 103824/1 Adopted Adopted 2026-02-10 Floor Amendment 253621/1 (Senator Hester) Adopted Adopted 2026-04-09 Favorable with Amendments 433522/1 Adopted Adopted 2026-04-13 Conference Committee Report 173226/1 Adopted Adopted
Bill Text Versions
2026-01-10 Introduced 2026-02-03 Engrossed
Subjects
Elections Advertising Civil Actions Communications Damages Deepfakes Elections, State Board of Federal Government Fines Fraud internet News Media Penalties and Sentences Political Candidates Radio Records Reports Subpoenas Television Voting Legislative data powered by LegiScan (CC BY 4.0)
Named provisions
Related changes
Get daily alerts for Maryland Legislative Events
Daily digest delivered to your inbox.
Free. Unsubscribe anytime.
About this page
Every important government, regulator, and court update from around the world. One place. Real-time. Free. Our mission
Source document text, dates, docket IDs, and authority are extracted directly from MDGA.
The summary, classification, recommended actions, deadlines, and penalty information are AI-generated from the original text and may contain errors. Always verify against the source document.
Classification
Who this affects
Taxonomy
Browse Categories
Get alerts for this source
We'll email you when Maryland Legislative Events publishes new changes.
Subscribed!
Optional. Filters your digest to exactly the updates that matter to you.