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Israel's Central Elections Committee chairman set binding marking rules for election propaganda created or materially edited with AI
The statute created the disclosure duty. The chairman's rules decide whether a disclosure actually counts, and they answer that in centimetres and seconds rather than in principle.
Bottom line: Binding, and already operative. The rules were set by the chairman of the Central Elections Committee under section 2A2 of the Elections (Means of Propaganda) Law, 5719-1959, and the committee's own circular says publishing without the required disclosure may be treated as a breach of the law.
Who this affects: Israeli election lawyers, party spokespeople and digital teams, faction and party representatives at the Central Elections Committee, and the external agencies and suppliers those parties retain.
Issue date: 26 July 2026, being 12 Av 5786, the date on the committee circular and the date from which the rules apply. The underlying section 2A2 was enacted as a temporary provision in force until one year after the elections to the 26th Knesset.
What changed: There is now a stated test for what a compliant disclosure looks like: two permitted forms, a minimum size of 5 percent of content height, full-duration display in video, and start and end placement in audio-only content.
Analysis: The size and duration floors move the fight. Before them, a party could argue that any label at all discharged the duty. Under these rules a label that a viewer has to expand or click to see is a candidate for non-compliance on its own terms, and the chairman applied exactly that reasoning to a Facebook post the same day.
Primary sources: CEC announcement on marking AI election propaganda (gov.il, Hebrew) · Committee circular setting the rules (PDF, Hebrew) · Kovetz HaTakanot 12484 (PDF, Hebrew)
- Instrument (EN)
- Rules on compliance with the disclosure duty for election propaganda that is a deep fake, 5786-2026
- Authority
- Justice Noam Sohlberg, Deputy President of the Supreme Court, chairman of the Central Elections Committee for the 26th Knesset
- Jurisdiction
- Israel
- Enabling provision
- Section 2A2 of the Elections (Means of Propaganda) Law, 5719-1959, inserted as a temporary provision by section 12 of the Elections to the 26th Knesset (Special Provisions and Legislative Amendments) Law, 5786-2026
- Status
- Made and published in Kovetz HaTakanot 12484; circulated to committee members, faction representatives and registered parties
- Bindingness
- Binding. The circular states that publication without the required disclosure may be considered a breach of the law
- Issue date / next deadline
- 26 July 2026. Applies to election propaganda first published from that date
- Duration
- Section 2A2 is a temporary provision in force until one year after the elections to the 26th Knesset
- Primary source
- https://www.gov.il/he/pages/dover_5
What the statute requires before the rules get involved
Section 2A2 of the Means of Propaganda Law sets a disclosure duty for election propaganda that was created, or materially edited, by advanced digital means, including artificial intelligence. The statute calls that output a deep fake.
The duty bites where the propaganda includes a figure, a place, an event, a document or an object that may appear as though it was documented in the original when it was not. On the committee's account the disclosure must be clear and prominent.
The section does not reach backwards. It does not apply to election propaganda first published before its commencement, and the chairman relied on that limit the same week when deciding a case about a video posted in June.
The two permitted forms of disclosure
Under the rules the disclosure notice can be given in one of two ways. The first is a statement that the content, or the relevant part of it, was created by digital means and was not documented in the original, or was digitally edited with material change, as the case may be.
The second is marking with the symbol reproduced in the appendix to the rules. That option is not available for audio-only content, which by its nature cannot carry a graphic mark.
The committee circular also allows the notice itself to be delivered in writing, as a dedicated graphic marking, or in audio, depending on the medium.
The measurable part
A written notice must sit on a plain background, in a prominent position with high contrast, in a legible and clear font, and in the language of the election propaganda content or of most of it. Its size must be at least 5 percent of the height of the content.
In a video the notice must appear for the entire length of the video. In audio-only content it must be heard at the start of the content and again at its end.
The circular adds that the notice must be conveyed clearly and with sufficient force, and must not differ materially from the rest of the content. Responsibility for compliance sits with the publisher.
Who the committee told to get ready
The circular went out over the signature of Din Livne, acting director general, addressed to the deputy chairs of the committee, its members, representatives of Knesset factions, and representatives of parties on the register of parties, with copies to Justice Sohlberg and to the committee's legal adviser, Adv. Yifat Siminovsky.
It asks recipients to bring the rules to the attention of everyone who will take part in publishing messages on their behalf, directly or indirectly, spokespeople, digital teams and external suppliers included, and to confirm those people are ready to apply them.
The committee frames the rules as an attempt to create certainty for publishers and for the voting public, and to protect trust in the electoral process.
What we did not verify
I opened the committee's Hebrew announcement at gov.il and the full text of the signed circular setting out the rules, including the two permitted forms of disclosure, the 5 percent size floor, the full-duration video requirement, the audio start and end requirement, the addressees, and the 26 July 2026 date.
I did not read the appendix symbol itself, and I did not open Kovetz HaTakanot 12484 or the full text of section 2A2 as enacted. There is no official English version of the rules that I could find, so every quoted phrase here is my own working translation from the Hebrew.
I am not asserting what sanction follows a breach, how the 5 percent measurement is taken on a vertical video, or how the rules interact with platform-side AI labels applied automatically.
The rules convert a disclosure duty into a specification, and specifications are what get audited after the fact. If you are advising a party or an agency, the two things to fix before the next asset ships are the size of the mark relative to content height and its persistence for the whole runtime. A caption in the body of a social post is the arrangement the chairman has already found wanting.
Source File
https://www.gov.il/he/pages/dover_5
Open gov.il/he/pages/dover_5 and the attached rules circular, then confirm the publication date of 26.07.2026, the 5 percent of content height floor for written notices, the requirement that the notice run for the full length of a video, and the statement that the rules apply to content first published from 26 July 2026.
In a video the notice will appear for the entire length of the video. In audio content only, the disclosure notice will be heard at the beginning of the content and at its end. ยท Central Elections Committee circular on marking AI election propaganda, TLY working translation from the Hebrew, 26 July 2026
FAQ
Does the disclosure have to be a specific logo?
No. The rules allow either a written statement that the content or the relevant part was created by digital means and not documented in the original, or was digitally edited with material change, or marking with the symbol set out in the appendix to the rules. The symbol option does not apply to audio-only content.
How large does a written mark have to be?
At least 5 percent of the height of the content, in a prominent high-contrast position, in a legible clear font, and in the language of the propaganda content or of most of it.
Does this apply to material published before the rules?
On the committee's account the rules apply to election propaganda content first published from 26 July 2026. Section 2A2 itself does not apply to propaganda first published before its commencement.
How long do the rules last?
The circular describes section 2A2 as a temporary provision in force until one year after the elections to the 26th Knesset. I did not verify whether the rules made under it carry the same end date.
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