Elec. Code, § 20512

For purposes of this chapter, the following terms have the following meanings:

(a) “Advertisement” means any general or public communication that a large online platform knows is authorized or paid for with the purpose of supporting or opposing a candidate for elective office.

(b) “Broadcasting station” means a radio or television broadcasting station, including any of the following:

(1) Cable operator, programmer, or producer.

(2) Streaming service operator, programmer, or producer.

(3) Direct-to-home satellite television operator, programmer, or producer.

(c) “Candidate” means any person running for a voter-nominated office as defined in Section 359.5, any person running for the office of President or Vice President of the United States, and any person running for the office of Superintendent of Public Instruction.

(d) “Deepfake” means audio or visual media that is digitally created or modified such that it would falsely appear to a reasonable person to be an authentic record of the actual speech or conduct of the individual depicted in the media.

(e) “Election communication” means a general or public communication that is not an “advertisement” and that concerns any of the following:

(1) A candidate for elective office.

(2) Voting or refraining from voting in an election in California.

(3) The canvass of the vote for an election in California, as defined in subdivision (f).

(4) Voting machines, ballots, voting sites, or other property or equipment related to an election in California.

(5) Proceedings or processes of the electoral college in California.

(f) “Election in California” means any election where a candidate, as defined in this section, is on the ballot, and any election where a statewide initiative or statewide referendum measure is on the ballot.

(g) “Elections official” means either of the following persons acting in their official capacity:

(1) An elections official as defined in Section 320.

(2) The Secretary of State.

(h) “Large online platform” means a public-facing internet website, web application, or digital application, including a social media platform as defined in Section 22675 of the Business and Professions Code, video sharing platform, advertising network, or search engine that had at least 1,000,000 California users during the preceding 12 months.

(i) (1) “Materially deceptive content” means audio or visual media that is digitally created or modified, and that includes, but is not limited to, deepfakes and the output of chatbots, such that it would falsely appear to a reasonable person to be an authentic record of the content depicted in the media.

(2) “Materially deceptive content” does not include any audio or visual media that contains only minor modifications that do not significantly change the perceived contents or meaning of the content. Minor changes include changes to the brightness or contrast of images, removal of background noise in audio, and other minor changes that do not impact the content of the image or audio or visual media.