WASHINGTON, D.C. — The Senate Judiciary Committee advanced the Nurture Originals, Foster Art, and Keep Entertainment Safe (NO FAKES) Act on Thursday, approving the bill by voice vote. The legislation establishes intellectual property rights to individuals' voice and visual likeness, and requires online platforms to remove unauthorized artificial intelligence-generated images that are not licensed by the person portrayed.

Sen. Chris Coons of Delaware sponsors the bill, which prohibits distributing unauthorized deepfakes or offering products or services primarily designed to create them. The bill includes exemptions for parody, news, and documentaries. It also establishes a counter-notification system for individuals who believe their content was mistakenly removed from online platforms.

"This bill is about protecting what's most personal to us, what makes us us: our voice and our likeness," Sen. Chris Coons said. "Every American should have the right to decide how their voice and likeness will be used, especially when generative AI can create highly realistic digital replicas that make it look like we said things we never said and did things we never did," Coons said. The bill establishes financial penalties for individuals distributing unauthorized deepfakes and for online platforms that do not make a good-faith effort to remove them, with platform penalties potentially reaching $750,000 per unauthorized work.

During the committee proceedings, Sens. Alex Padilla, Ted Cruz, Mike Lee, and Eric Schmitt noted concerns regarding free speech. "The legislation as drafted now raises some potentially significant concerns regarding free speech," Sen. Mike Lee said. "We do need to ensure that in protecting content creators' rights, we don't inadvertently chill free speech or undermine long-standing First Amendment principles," Lee said.

The committee adopted a manager's amendment without objection. This amendment limits liability in cases where a deepfake coincidentally resembles a non-famous person. It also establishes procedures for registering rights to the voice or visual likeness of individuals who died within 10 years before the bill's enactment.

"As written, this bill creates a dangerous financial incentive for platforms to aggressively over-remove lawful content, burdens creators with an unworkable counter-notification system, and fails to deliver the uniform national standard its sponsors promised," Amy Bos, vice president of government affairs, said. The bill has 15 co-sponsors, including seven Democrats and eight Republicans. The bill is based on Tennessee's Ensuring Likeness Voice and Image Security Act, which was passed in 2024 and created a right to an individual's voice and visual likeness. TikTok and YouTube both expressed support for the bill. SAG-AFTRA published an open letter containing more than 16,000 signatures supporting the bill.