Policy Tracker
Political campaign advertisements; synthetic media, penalty.
VA · Legislation · 2026 · HB868
Record updated Feb 6, 2026
Summary
Elections; political campaign advertisements; synthetic media; penalty. Prohibits electioneering communications containing synthetic media, as those terms are defined in the bill, from being published or broadcast without containing the following conspicuously displayed statement: "This message contains synthetic media that has been altered from its original source or artificially generated and may present conduct or speech that did not occur." The bill creates a civil penalty not to exceed $25,000 for a violation of such prohibition and a Class 1 misdemeanor for a willful violation.
Timeline
2026-02-06
H
Continued to next session in Privileges and Elections (Voice Vote)
2026-02-03
H
Subcommittee recommends reporting (6-Y 2-N)
2026-01-28
H
Fiscal Impact Statement from Department of Planning and Budget (HB868)
2026-01-25
H
Assigned HPE sub: Campaigns and Candidates
2026-01-13
H
Prefiled and ordered printed; Offered 01-14-2026 26103803D
2026-01-13
H
Referred to Committee on Privileges and Elections
Bill Text
Pending
Bill Text is not available yet for this record.