A federal court in New Hampshire has ruled in favor of plaintiffs in a lawsuit considered to be the first of its kind in the country, involving claims that thousands of automated robocalls that used an AI-generated copy of then-President Joe Biden’s voice to urge Granite State Democrats not to vote in the 2024 presidential primary could have intimidated voters.
The League of Women Voters of New Hampshire (LWV-NH), the League of Women Voters of the United States and individual voters in New London, Dover and Barrington filed the lawsuit in March 2024 in U.S. District Court in Concord against two Texas companies and political consultant Steve Kramer, alleging “voter intimidation, coercion, and deception” ahead of the 2024 New Hampshire presidential primary, court documents show.
The court entered a default judgment against Kramer, who orchestrated and paid for the robocalls. The plaintiffs sought a default judgment against Kramer, who never appeared in court.
The plaintiffs were represented by Free Speech For People (FSFP), Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld LLP, and Preti, Flaherty, Beliveau & Pachios, Chartered, LLP.
Liz Tentarelli, president of the League of Women Voters of New Hampshire, said the victory sends a clear message.
“The right to vote is sacred, and new technology will not be a shield for those who seek to suppress it,” Tentarelli said. “The court’s decision affirms that deceptive, AI-generated robocalls designed to intimidate and confuse voters are a direct assault on our democracy and will not be tolerated.”
“This ruling establishes a critical precedent against the weaponization of artificial intelligence in elections,” said Caren Short, director of legal and research at the League of Women Voters. “By securing a nationwide injunction against Kramer for these illegal and deceptive AI-spoofed communications, the court has recognized the profound threat that deepfake technology poses to the electoral process. This landmark decision will help ensure the voice on the line is genuine, and voters can cast ballots free of intimidation and fraud.”
Life Corp. of Arlington, Texas, and its owner, Walter Monk, arranged for the calls to go to between 5,000 and 25,000 Democrats on Jan. 21, 2024, two days before the vote on Jan. 23, Attorney General John Formella said last year.
“It is important that you save your vote for the November election,” said the Biden voice, which was created using artificial intelligence.
According to court documents, on Jan. 21, 2024, around 6:30 p.m., plaintiff James Fieseher of Dover received the robocall on his residential landline.
Fieseher had not consented to receiving telephone calls from the defendants, the lawsuit states, and “immediately recognized the voice of President Biden” and assumed that the call was coming from Biden’s presidential campaign.
“After listening for 15 to 20 seconds, Fieseher realized the call was not legitimate because the robocall was urging him not to vote,” court documents state.
Also on Jan. 21, around dinnertime, plaintiff Nancy Marashio of New London received the robocall on her residential landline.
“Marashio thought the voice on the robocall sounded like President Biden, but the content of the message did not make sense,” court documents state. “As a long-time member of the LWV-NH, Marashio was able to discern that the call was not legitimate, but was concerned that others without her experience would be taken in by the message.”
Around the same time, plaintiff Patricia Gingrich of Barrington received the robocall on her home phone line and recognized the voice as President Biden’s, but “as a consistent voter and chair of the Barrington Democrats, she knew that the message was faked.”
The lawsuit was filed weeks after Kramer admitted he was behind the robocall.
Court documents show the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) determined Kramer knowingly caused the fake robocalls to be transmitted with false caller identification information in order to mislead and to cause harm, noting “Kramer himself acknowledged — without regret — that people may have felt ‘disenfranchised’ or that ‘democracy has been disrupted’ as a result of his calls.”
The FCC also noted that Kramer “acted without remorse, publicly claiming that his actions were justified to pursue his own agenda.
In her report and recommendation, United States Magistrate Judge Talesha L. Saint-Marc wrote Kramer should pay $7,500 in damages with post judgment interest to each of the three individual plaintiffs involved in the lawsuit.
The report permanently blocks Kramer from organizing a robocall campaign and disseminating AI-generated political robocalls. The three corporate defendants named in the lawsuit settled with plaintiffs earlier this year.
pfeely@unionleader.com
