NAB, MPA Seek Extension to Comment on FCC’s AI Ad Disclosure Rules

WASHINGTON, August 9, 2024 – Broadcasters are urging the Federal Communications Commission to extend the comment period on new AI disclosure rules for political ads, arguing that rushing the process could disrupt the 2024 election cycle.

On Thursday, the National Association of Broadcasters and the Motion Picture Association filed for an extension of the comment period for an FCC proposal that mandates both on-air and written disclosures in broadcasters' political files for AI-generated content in political ads.

The organizations have requested an additional 30 days for initial comments and an extra 15 days for reply comments, which would push the final reply deadline to Nov. 4 – the day before the 2024 presidential election.

Even without the extension, the FCC's current timeline would makes it difficult to implement new rules before November.

The FCC on Monday set the current deadlines for public comments and reply comments for September 4 and September 19, respectively. 

In their motion, the NAB and MPA expressed strong support for the FCC’s objective of ensuring the public was informed about potentially false, misleading, or deceptive political advertisements, whether generated by AI or other means. 

However, they argued that implementing new core processes, including updates to NAB’s widely used political broadcasting form, would be a significant challenge for broadcasters at this late stage in the election cycle.

The organizations highlighted that the 2024 election cycle was already well underway, with early voting just around the corner, leaving little chance for any adopted item to have an impact.

“There is simply no need to rush through the process under a notion that a decision could somehow be relevant for the 2024 election,” the motion said. “The FCC should have released a rulemaking notice at the beginning of 2024 at the very latest, so it could have already adopted a timely order.”

The NAB and MPA also raised concerns about potential violations of the Procedure Act and the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 if the FCC were to push through a final order on AI disclosure rules in the current timeline.