New York — SAG-AFTRA applauds Governor Cuomo, Senator Sevino, Senator Gianaris, Assemblywoman Weinstein and the entire New York Legislature for enacting a strong right of publicity and deepfakes bill. The law protects the images and voices of SAG-AFTRA members and their families, in life and now post mortem, from unwanted and unauthorized commercial exploitation, and it provides strict prohibitions against the publication and dissemination of digitally created, nonconsensual, sexually explicit material.
“We are thrilled that Gov. Cuomo signed this important and hard-fought bill that protects not only our members, but society as a whole. I want to thank Executive Vice President and New York Local President Rebecca Damon and the many members who engaged with us in achieving this crucial legislation,” said SAG-AFTRA President Gabrielle Carteris.
“This bill is an important part of our ongoing efforts to safeguard our members. We can’t thank our members and staff enough, including former Screen Actors Guild President Richard Masur, New York Local Executive Director and Chief Deputy General Counsel Jeffrey Bennett, and their respective committees and teams, as well as Gov. Cuomo and the New York Legislature for this accomplishment,“ said SAG-AFTRA Executive Vice President and New York Local President Rebecca Damon.
We thank our industry and stakeholder allies for helping to ensure New York’s protection against the use of a living person’s image and voice, including their ‘digital avatar and digital voice,’ in advertising and trade, remains firmly intact, and will continue the trend of protecting against uses in expressive works unless the use is clearly permitted by the First Amendment. The bill, for the first time in 36 years, also prohibits the use of a deceased individual’s voice and image in advertising and for purposes of trade.
In addition, the bill prohibits deceptive uses of a deceased performer’s digital image and voice in expressive work. It also contains strict prohibitions against the distribution of digitally created, sexually explicit works, sometimes known as ‘deepfakes,’ without clear and written approval from the performer depicted.
SAG-AFTRA applauds New York for this milestone.
About SAG-AFTRA
SAG-AFTRA represents approximately 160,000 actors, announcers, broadcast journalists, dancers, DJs, news writers, news editors, program hosts, puppeteers, recording artists, singers, stunt performers, voiceover artists and other entertainment and media professionals. SAG-AFTRA members are the faces and voices that entertain and inform America and the world. A proud affiliate of the AFL-CIO, SAG-AFTRA has national offices in Los Angeles and New York and local offices nationwide representing members working together to secure the strongest protections for entertainment and media artists into the 21st century and beyond. Visit SAG-AFTRA online at SAGAFTRA.org.