NH judge denies motion to dismiss Biden AI robocall lawsuit

Yahoo

30-03-2025

A federal judge in New Hampshire has denied a motion to dismiss a lawsuit alleging that thousands of automated robocalls that used an AI-generated copy of President Joe Biden's voice to urge Granite State Democrats not to vote in the presidential primary could have 'long-lasting and detrimental' impacts on voters.
U.S. District Court Judge Steven McAuliffe also denied a request for a preliminary injunction in the matter.
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 U.S. District Court in Concord last year against two Texas companies and a political consultant, alleging 'voter intimidation, coercion, and deception' ahead of the 2024 New Hampshire presidential primary, court documents show.
Plaintiffs are seeking up to $7,500 in damages for each call that violated federal and state law. Officials estimate the robocall went to between 5,000 and 25,000 people — resulting in damages ranging somewhere between $37,500,000 and $187,500,000.
'If defendants are not permanently enjoined from deploying AI-generated robocalls, there is a strong likelihood that it will happen again,' the lawsuit says.
The groups are asking the court to declare that the defendants' actions violated the Voting Rights Act and state and federal consumer protection laws.
The lawsuit seeks a permanent injunction preventing the defendant from creating robocalls to voters in other primaries, generating robocalls impersonating U.S. politicians, distributing spoofed texts and calls discouraging people from voting, or from distributing any mass communications that urge people not to vote.
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.
Life Corp. and Voice Broadcasting Corp. moved to dismiss all of the plaintiffs' claims.
Judge McAuliffe ruled that although the individual plaintiffs were 'unpersuaded' by the deepfake robocalls and actually voted in the primary election, 'they were still the victims of an unlawful attempt to intimidate, threaten, or coerce them' into not doing so and have standing to bring their claims.
'In short, that defendants' attempts to suppress plaintiffs' votes were clumsy and unsuccessful does not immunize defendants from liability, nor does it divest the individual plaintiffs of standing,' McAuliffe wrote.
The court referred plaintiffs' request for preliminary injunctive relief to Magistrate Judge Talesha Saint-Marc for a report and recommendation. Following a hearing on the matter, Saint-Marc recommended the court deny plaintiffs' motion for preliminary injunction, saying they failed to establish they would suffer irreparable harm if an injunction were denied.
McAuliffe agreed, saying the plaintiffs 'have standing to pursue the claims set forth in the amended complaint, but none of the plaintiffs has demonstrated entitlement to the preliminary injunctive relief sought.'
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. 'At that time, Fieseher recognized that the robocall had used artificial intelligence to duplicate President Biden's voice and hung up.'
Also on Jan. 21, around dinner time, 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.'
The lawsuit was filed weeks after political consultant Steve Kramer admitted he was behind the robocall.
A New Orleans magician told NBC News that Kramer, a former consultant to Dean Phillips's presidential campaign, paid him $150 to create an AI version of Biden's voice.
Paul Carpenter told NBC he had no idea his work, which used artificial intelligence, would wind up at the center of a multistate criminal probe.