Florida Deepfake Laws: AI Images, Voice Cloning & Penalties (2026)

Florida has one of the country's more comprehensive deepfake frameworks. State law criminalizes nonconsensual sexual deepfakes as a third-degree felony under Fla. Stat. § 836.13, mandates AI-generated content disclaimers in political advertisements under § 106.145, and prohibits possession of AI-generated child sexual abuse material under § 827.072. Voice cloning sits in a legal gray zone: Florida's right-of-publicity statute (§ 540.08) does not explicitly cover voice.

Is It Illegal to Make a Deepfake of Someone in Florida?

Yes, in several contexts. Florida targets deepfakes across three buckets: sexual and intimate imagery, election-related political advertisements, and AI-generated child sexual abuse material. The law does not yet impose a general ban on all deepfakes, so a realistic but non-sexual, non-political AI image of a private person falls outside the criminal statutes, though civil options such as defamation or § 540.08 commercial-use claims may still apply.

The biggest gap is voice cloning for non-commercial purposes. Florida has not enacted a standalone AI voice law. Using someone's AI-cloned voice in a private prank or a non-commercial creative work is not covered by any Florida criminal statute at this time, though federal rules address robocall misuse.

For content involving minors, any AI-generated sexual imagery is covered by both state and federal law regardless of bucket. Florida's SB 1680 (2024) closed the gap that once left purely computer-generated material in a legal gray zone.

Sexual and Intimate Deepfakes

Florida Stat. § 836.13, titled "Altered sexual depictions; prohibited acts; penalties; applicability," is the core state law. It covers any visual content modified by "digital, electronic, mechanical, or other modification" that realistically depicts an identifiable person with another person's nude body parts, computer-generated genitals, or engaging in sexual conduct they did not actually perform. That definition squarely covers AI-generated deepfake pornography.

The criminal charge is a third-degree felony, punishable by up to five years in prison and a $5,000 fine under Fla. Stat. §§ 775.082-775.083. The legislature made clear that adding a disclaimer to the image is not a defense and does not reduce criminal liability. Florida enacted this law in 2022 (Ch. 2022-212), making it an early mover on deepfake NCII, but the original version reached only distribution: it punished a person who "willfully and maliciously promotes" an altered sexual depiction. The 2025 amendments (chs. 2025-99 and 2025-133) added the offenses that reach the maker and the customer. Subsection (2) now covers a person who "willfully generates" an altered sexual depiction of an identifiable person without consent, and subsection (3) covers a person who "solicits" one. Both are third-degree felonies.

Victims also have a direct civil cause of action under § 836.13. A court must award at least $10,000 or actual damages, whichever is greater, plus reasonable attorney fees. This statutory floor removes the burden of proving specific dollar harm, which is often difficult in NCII cases.

For minors, SB 1680 (Ch. 2024-118, effective July 1, 2024) amended Fla. Stat. § 827.072 to expressly prohibit knowingly possessing, controlling, or intentionally viewing "generated child pornography" and intentionally creating it. This closes a prior argument that AI-generated imagery of fictional minors fell outside older CSAM definitions.

Election and Political Deepfakes

Florida Stat. § 106.145, as amended by HB 919 (Ch. 2024-126), requires a specific disclosure whenever AI-generated content depicting a candidate or political party is used in a political advertisement or electioneering communication, and the depiction is intended to injure the candidate or deceive voters. The required language is: "Created in whole or in part with the use of generative artificial intelligence (AI)."

Format requirements vary by medium. Video and TV placements require text at least 4 percent of vertical picture height; audio placements require the disclosure spoken for at least three seconds at the beginning or end; printed materials require bold, minimum 12-point font. Violations are a first-degree misdemeanor under Fla. Stat. §§ 775.082-775.083. The Florida Elections Commission handles complaints on an expedited basis.

A First Amendment caveat applies here. A federal court enjoined portions of California's election deepfake law in August 2025, finding that satire and parody receive constitutional protection even when they use AI-generated political imagery. Florida's statute is framed around intent to injure or deceive, which provides some narrowing, but the First Amendment risk is real for political speech. Laws in this space continue to face constitutional challenges nationally.

For a broader look at how Florida regulates AI technology across sectors, including generative AI in government and education, see Florida AI Laws.

AI Voice Cloning and Digital Likeness

Florida's right-of-publicity statute, § 540.08, protects a person's "name, portrait, photograph, or other likeness" against unauthorized commercial use. The phrase "other likeness" might extend to voice in a future court ruling, but the statute does not explicitly list voice and no Florida court has confirmed that reading. No Florida legislature session through 2026 has enacted a standalone AI voice-cloning law.

By contrast, Tennessee's ELVIS Act (Tenn. Code Ann. § 47-25-1101 et seq., effective July 1, 2024) is the national reference point. It renamed the state's right-of-publicity law the Ensuring Likeness, Voice, and Image Security Act of 2024 and added voice to the protected attributes, with the operative provisions at § 47-25-1102 (defining voice to include a simulation of it), § 47-25-1103 (the property right) and § 47-25-1105 (liability, which reaches distributing a tool whose primary purpose is producing an identifiable person's voice). Tennessee was the first state to legislate specifically against AI voice simulation, though not the first to protect voice at all: California Civil Code § 3344 already listed voice among the attributes protected against unauthorized commercial use. Florida has not followed the Tennessee model.

For now, commercial AI voice cloning of a Florida resident without consent may support a § 540.08 civil claim on an "other likeness" theory, but success is uncertain without judicial precedent. Non-commercial cloning (fan content, satire, private use) falls entirely outside § 540.08 because the statute requires commercial or advertising purpose.

Federal proposed legislation, the NO FAKES Act (S.4591, 119th Congress), would create a federal right of publicity for voice and likeness against unauthorized AI digital replicas, but it has not passed either chamber as of June 2026 and is not current law.

If your work with AI voice tools intersects with meeting recordings or transcription, Florida AI Meeting Recording Laws explains the consent rules.

Federal Law That Applies in Florida

The TAKE IT DOWN Act (Public Law 119-12, signed May 19, 2025) is the first federal law directly targeting intimate deepfakes. It creates a federal crime for knowingly publishing nonconsensual intimate visual depictions of adults or minors, expressly covering AI-generated "digital forgeries." Penalties run up to two years in prison, or three years when minors are involved. Separate from the criminal provision, the Act requires online platforms to remove flagged content within 48 hours of a victim's notice request; the FTC enforces platform compliance, with the full removal obligation effective May 19, 2026.

The TAKE IT DOWN Act layers on top of Florida § 836.13. Both can apply to the same deepfake, meaning a victim may pursue both a state criminal complaint and a federal platform-removal request simultaneously.

The DEFIANCE Act (S.1837, 119th Congress) would add a federal civil cause of action for sexual deepfake victims with liquidated damages up to $150,000 ($250,000 if the conduct involved actual or attempted sexual assault, stalking, or harassment). The 118th Congress version passed the Senate in July 2024 but died in the House; the reintroduced bill passed the Senate again on January 13, 2026, but it remains pending legislation, not law.

The FCC ruled in February 2024 (FCC 24-17) that AI-generated voices in robocalls are "artificial" voices under the TCPA, making AI voice-clone robocalls to phones without prior express consent illegal nationwide. This directly applies in Florida.

Federal law also covers AI-generated CSAM. Under 18 U.S.C. § 2256(8)(B) (PROTECT Act, 2003), computer-generated images indistinguishable from real minors are covered regardless of whether any real child was involved. There is no First Amendment defense for material that is indistinguishable from a real child.

What Victims Can Do

Victims of sexual deepfakes in Florida have overlapping remedies. On the criminal side, file a complaint with local law enforcement or the Florida Department of Law Enforcement (FDLE); § 836.13 is a felony, so prosecutors can pursue it without the victim personally suing. On the civil side, § 836.13 gives you a direct lawsuit for at least $10,000 plus attorney fees without needing to prove exact monetary harm.

Platform removal is a parallel track. Florida has its own rule: Brooke's Law (Ch. 2025-133) amended § 836.13 in 2025 to require covered platforms to maintain a removal process, in place since December 31, 2025, and to take down an altered sexual depiction and known identical copies within 48 hours of a valid request. Under the TAKE IT DOWN Act, victims can submit a notice to a covered platform and the platform must remove the content within 48 hours. The FTC enforces this obligation. For content predating the Act or on non-covered platforms, most major services have their own NCII reporting processes, and the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC) operates the Take It Down program for minors' images.

For political advertisement violations, file a complaint with the Florida Elections Commission. For AI robocall violations involving voice cloning, file with the FCC at fcc.gov/consumers/guides/filing-informal-complaint.

The Florida Data Privacy Laws page covers related rights under the Florida Digital Bill of Rights (FDBR) if a company collected or processed your biometric or personal data without proper disclosure.

Penalties at a Glance

Disclaimer: This page provides general legal information about Florida deepfake and AI laws, not legal advice. Laws in this area are changing rapidly; the information here reflects statutes in effect as of June 2026 but may not capture recent amendments or court decisions. If you have been harmed by a deepfake or face charges, consult a licensed Florida attorney.

For the full 50-state comparison, see Deepfake and AI Voice Cloning Laws by State.

Sources

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