A wireless provider that allowed President Joe Biden’s deep-pocketed robocalls to be relayed to potential voters in New Hampshire during the Democratic primaries has settled with the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), according to an announcement from the commission on Wednesday. Texas-based Lingo Telecom will pay a $1 million civil penalty to settle a voter suppression effort.
The controversy over fake calls to Biden began when a political consultant named Steve Kramer was hired by the presidential campaign of Dean Phillips, a Democratic congressman from Minnesota who tried to beat Biden for his party’s nomination. Kramer reportedly used AI cloning tech to make calls that sounded like President Biden, including a script that made it sound like he didn’t want his supporters to vote for him in the New Hampshire primary this past January.
Lingo Telecom did not create the robocalls but allowed them to be transmitted over its network, which the FCC says violates so-called “Know Your Customer” (KYC) and “Know Your Upstream Provider” (KYUP) rules. Phillips’ campaign said Kramer was working independently and did not know if he authorized the false calls to Biden. Kramer’s final punishment is pending at the FCC, though he faces a proposed $6 million fine.
Surprisingly, fake robocalls were both a high-risk endeavor and showed very little reward for the person they were supposed to help. Phillips received less than 20% of the vote in New Hampshire, despite campaigning hard there. Biden received about 64% of the vote, while Marianne Williamson received only 4%. But robocalls and FCC enforcement are likely to deter any other mainstream political campaigns in the future that may be considering similar tactics.
“Everyone deserves to know that the voice on the line is who they say they are,” said FCC chair Jessica Rosenworcel in a press release. “If AI is used, that should be made clear to any consumer, citizen, and voter that encounters it. The FCC will act when the trust in our communications networks is in place.”
The announcement from the FCC says that, in addition to the financial penalty, Lingo has agreed to three changes to ensure that it knows who is using its wireless network:
- Applying for A-level authentication, which is the highest level of reliability specified in a phone number, is only for calls where Lingo Telecom itself has provided the caller with a caller ID number.
- Verify the identity and business line of each customer and upstream supplier by obtaining independent verification records
- Forwarding traffic from upstream providers with strong robocall mitigation
mechanisms exist and respond to tracking requests.
The FCC also introduced a framework for enforcement against US geopolitical adversaries overseas who may try to influence US elections. However, it should be noted that this was purely a domestic project led by American hopeful Phillips.
“Whether it’s in the hands of domestic companies seeking political advantage or sophisticated foreign adversaries engaged in malicious influence or election interference, the potential combination of misuse of AI voice generation technology and driver ID fraud over the US telecommunications network presents a serious threat,” FCC office chief Loyaan A. Egal said in the release. “This resolution sends a strong message that telecommunications service providers are the first line of defense against these threats and will be held accountable to ensure they are doing their part to protect the American public.”
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