California SB 1111 (Digital Replicas / False Impersonation Clarification)

Properties

kind: law
target: voice-and-likeness
jurisdiction: US, California
mechanism: Amends California Penal Code Section 540 (criminal false personation) to clarify that false impersonation includes the use of a digital replica with the intent to impersonate another, where a digital replica is defined as a computer-generated, highly realistic electronic representation that is readily identifiable as the voice or visual likeness of an individual, whether the individual never performed at all or the fundamental character of an actual performance was materially altered.
status: enacted-pending
owns: Extends an existing criminal false-personation statute to AI digital replicas of voice or likeness, distinct from ca-deepfake-pornography-act (a civil, sexual-imagery-specific cause of action under Civil Code 1708.86) and from tn-elvis-act's civil right-of-publicity tort: SB 1111 works through the general criminal impersonation code rather than creating a new publicity right or a porn-specific civil claim.
source: California SB 1111 (Digital Replicas / False Impersonation Clarification)
notes: Status per the CalMatters Digital Democracy bill tracker, an aggregator of the Legislature's own bill history: chaptered by the Secretary of State on 2026-09-30 as Chapter 862, Statutes of 2026. This was not confirmed against an official California source; leginfo.legislature.ca.gov returned 403 to automated fetch, and no official signing release was reached. Recorded as 'enacted-pending' (chaptered, not yet effective) rather than 'in-effect'. The exact signing date is not independently confirmed; the chaptering date is the only dated event sourced. Effective date not confirmed: California statutes without an urgency clause normally take effect January 1 of the following year (January 1, 2027), which is approximate until checked against the chaptered text. Passed the Assembly August 28, 2026 and enrolled September 1, 2026 (as reported by the same tracker). Mechanism as before: amends Penal Code 540 so false impersonation includes use of a digital replica with intent to impersonate another; per the tracker summary the bill also clarifies that a voice or likeness includes a digital replica for civil right-of-publicity purposes (Civil Code 3344).

Provenance

Source: https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billTextClient.xhtml?bill_id=202520260SB1111

Properties

kind

law

target

voice-and-likeness

jurisdiction

US, California

mechanism

Amends California Penal Code Section 540 (criminal false personation) to clarify that false impersonation includes the use of a digital replica with the intent to impersonate another, where a digital replica is defined as a computer-generated, highly realistic electronic representation that is readily identifiable as the voice or visual likeness of an individual, whether the individual never performed at all or the fundamental character of an actual performance was materially altered.

status

enacted-pending

owns

Extends an existing criminal false-personation statute to AI digital replicas of voice or likeness, distinct from ca-deepfake-pornography-act (a civil, sexual-imagery-specific cause of action under Civil Code 1708.86) and from tn-elvis-act's civil right-of-publicity tort: SB 1111 works through the general criminal impersonation code rather than creating a new publicity right or a porn-specific civil claim.

source

California SB 1111 (Digital Replicas / False Impersonation Clarification)

notes

Status per the CalMatters Digital Democracy bill tracker, an aggregator of the Legislature's own bill history: chaptered by the Secretary of State on 2026-09-30 as Chapter 862, Statutes of 2026. This was not confirmed against an official California source; leginfo.legislature.ca.gov returned 403 to automated fetch, and no official signing release was reached. Recorded as 'enacted-pending' (chaptered, not yet effective) rather than 'in-effect'. The exact signing date is not independently confirmed; the chaptering date is the only dated event sourced. Effective date not confirmed: California statutes without an urgency clause normally take effect January 1 of the following year (January 1, 2027), which is approximate until checked against the chaptered text. Passed the Assembly August 28, 2026 and enrolled September 1, 2026 (as reported by the same tracker). Mechanism as before: amends Penal Code 540 so false impersonation includes use of a digital replica with intent to impersonate another; per the tracker summary the bill also clarifies that a voice or likeness includes a digital replica for civil right-of-publicity purposes (Civil Code 3344).