Mississippi's attorney general has told a Senate campaign that two AI-generated ads appear to violate the state's election deepfake law
The Attorney General says two AI-generated campaign ads appear to violate state law and asked for removal or an injunction may follow. It is an enforcement notice built on a complaint's allegations, not a court ruling.
Bottom line: On 23 October 2026 the Mississippi Attorney General said she notified a U.S. Senate campaign that two AI-generated ads appear to violate the state election deepfake law, and asked for removal. The statement reports no court ruling or finding.
Who this affects: Political campaigns, election and political-law counsel, and platforms or vendors that carry campaign video in Mississippi.
Issue date: 23 October 2026. The statement sets no removal deadline.
What changed: The Attorney General said she asked that the ads be removed, or the office may file an injunction, and asked the campaign to preserve records.
Analysis: In our reading, this is a signal of enforcement posture. The underlying claims are a complainant's allegations, and the statement reports no adjudication of them.
- Instrument (English)
- Official statement, "Statement on Deepfake Political Ads" (October 23, 2026), reporting a notification to the Scott Colom for Senate campaign
- Authority
- Mississippi Attorney General Lynn Fitch
- Jurisdiction
- Mississippi, United States
- Status
- Enforcement notice issued; no court filing, ruling or finding is reported in the source
- Bindingness
- Not a court order or adjudication. It is an enforcement notification asking for removal of ads and preservation of records, under a state criminal statute (Miss. Code Section 97-13-47) the statement cites
- Issue date
- 23 October 2026
- Effective date
- Not applicable (notification). No removal deadline is stated in the source
- What changed
- The Attorney General says she notified the campaign that two AI-generated ads appear to violate state election deepfake law, asked for removal or else the office may file an injunction, and asked for records to be preserved
- Who this affects
- Political campaigns, election and political-law counsel, and platforms and vendors that host or produce campaign video in Mississippi
- Primary source
- Mississippi Attorney General, Statement on Deepfake Political Ads (October 23, 2026) and its PDF
- Workflow impact
- The statement makes requests of the campaign only (removal of the ads, preservation of records) and states no requirement for platforms, vendors or other campaigns. In the desk's reading, it shows the office treating AI-generated campaign ads within ninety days of an election as a possible criminal-law matter
- Operational next step
- Editorial recommendation, not a requirement in the statement: check any synthetic or altered likeness in election-period ads against the statute text, and consider obtaining consent or adding controls before posting; keep records of ad creation
- Last verified
- 2026-10-25
Primary source: Mississippi Attorney General, Statement on Deepfake Political Ads (October 23, 2026)
Key takeaways
- This is an enforcement notice, not a court order. The statement reports no filing and no finding.
- The ads are described as appearing to violate state law, based on a complaint that alleges they depict Senator Cindy Hyde-Smith without consent within ninety days of an election.
- The statement cites up to 5 years and/or $10,000 where intent is to deter voting, and up to 1 year and/or $5,000 for other violations.
- The campaign was asked to preserve all related records.
What did the Mississippi Attorney General actually say?
The statement is dated 23 October 2026. It says that morning Attorney General Lynn Fitch notified Scott Colom and Scott Colom for Senate that recent AI-generated ads posted by the campaign on their social media platforms "appear to violate State law against the use of "deepfakes" to influence elections." She asked that the ads be removed, or else the office may file an injunction as authorized by law.
Because violations of the election law can carry criminal penalties, the statement adds, she also asked Mr. Colom and his campaign to preserve all records related to the matter so as not to obstruct justice. This is the Attorney General's own press statement. We did not open the notification itself, and the PDF on the Attorney General's page carries the same statement text.
What is the complaint behind the notice?
The statement says the notification follows a complaint. According to the statement, the complaint alleges that two ads posted to the Scott Colom for Senate Facebook account and the Scott Colom Instagram account are deepfakes disseminated by the campaign within ninety days of an election, without the consent of the digitized individual, Senator Cindy Hyde-Smith, and are intended to injure the opponent and/or influence the election result.
Those are allegations in a complaint, relayed in the Attorney General's statement. The Attorney General's own position is the narrower one quoted above: the ads "appear to violate" state law. The statement links the complaint, which we did not open, so we cannot say who filed it or what the ads show.
What penalties does the statement cite?
The statement says violations of Section 97-13-47 of the Mississippi Code carry penalties of up to 5 years in prison and/or fines of up to $10,000 if the intent is to deter any person from voting. It says other violations carry penalties of up to 1 year in prison and/or fines of up to $5,000.
The statement does not say which tier the Attorney General considers applicable here, and it does not say that any charge has been brought. Read the two tiers as the statute's range as the office describes it, not as a penalty assessed against the campaign.
| Item | Date or tier | What the statement says |
|---|---|---|
| Statement and notification | 23 October 2026 | Attorney General notified the campaign that morning; ads should be removed or the office may file an injunction |
| Removal deadline | None stated | The statement gives no date by which the ads must come down |
| Window alleged in the complaint | Within ninety days of an election | Allegation relayed from the complaint, not a finding |
| Section 97-13-47, intent to "deter any person from voting" | Up to 5 years and/or $10,000 | Higher tier, as the statement describes it |
| Section 97-13-47, other violations | Up to 1 year and/or $5,000 | Lower tier, as the statement describes it |
What does it mean for campaigns, election counsel and platforms?
In our reading, the notice is a signal about enforcement posture more than a new rule. A state attorney general is using the notification the statement describes, with a possible injunction as the stated fallback, against AI-generated ads that a complainant says depict a named officeholder without consent inside the ninety-day window the statement describes. The source does not describe the statute's text, exceptions or any disclosure safe harbor, so we do not assume one exists or does not.
For a campaign or its vendors, the practical point is the combination of a short time window, a likeness question and a preservation request. For platforms, the statement names Facebook and Instagram as where the ads ran but says nothing about any request to Meta.
What should a campaign or counsel do now?
Treat this as a prompt to check your own process, not as a legal conclusion about the ads in this matter. The steps below are our editorial recommendations, not requirements stated in the Attorney General's statement or drawn from the statute, which we did not open.
- Read Section 97-13-47 itself, which we did not open, and confirm its elements, exceptions and any disclosure language before relying on this summary.
- For any ad in the final ninety days that uses AI to depict a real person, consider recording whether the person consented and who approved the content (our recommendation).
- Consider setting a removal and escalation path for a regulator's request, including who decides and how fast.
- Consider a litigation-style hold on ad drafts, prompts, edit files and posting records when a notice like this arrives, as counsel advises (the statement itself asks only that this campaign preserve records related to the matter).
FAQ
Is the Mississippi AG notice a court order or a lawsuit?
No. The statement describes a notification to the campaign asking that the ads be removed, and says the office may otherwise file an injunction. It does not report any filing, ruling or finding.
Has the campaign been found to have broken the law?
The statement reports no such finding. It says the ads appear to violate state law and relies on a complaint that alleges they are deepfakes. No court or agency finding is reported.
What penalties does the statement mention?
It says violations of Section 97-13-47 of the Mississippi Code carry up to 5 years in prison and/or fines of up to $10,000 if the intent is to deter any person from voting, and other violations carry up to 1 year and/or $5,000.
What did the Attorney General ask the campaign to do?
She asked that the ads be removed and that Scott Colom and his campaign preserve all records related to the matter.
What does the statement not tell us?
It does not set out the statute's elements, the ads' content, the complaint's author or the campaign's response, and we did not open the complaint it links.
What we did not verify
What we opened: the Attorney General's web page for the statement and the PDF it embeds (Colom-Video-Letter-1.pdf), both on 25 October 2026. Both carry the same single-page statement.
What we did not open: the complaint the statement links, the notification sent to the campaign, the text of Section 97-13-47, any response from the campaign, and any court filing. We did not view the ads.
What we refuse to claim: that the ads are deepfakes within the statute, that the campaign violated the law, that an injunction has been sought, or what any court would decide.
The Mississippi notice is an enforcement warning resting on a complaint's allegations, not a ruling. Campaigns and counsel can use it to check consent, approval records and removal procedures for AI-generated ads before an election window closes.
Related briefings
Source File
Primary: https://attorneygenerallynnfitch.com/2026/10/23/statement-on-deepfake-political-ads-october-23-2026/ and https://attorneygenerallynnfitch.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/10/Colom-Video-Letter-1.pdf
Secondary: None relied on for the facts above.
Last checked: 2026-10-25 (UTC)
Status: Enforcement notice reported in an official statement; not a court ruling.
Editorial note: Informational analysis for working professionals, not legal advice. Confirm how any rule applies to your situation with qualified counsel.
Informational analysis for working professionals, not legal advice. Confirm how any rule applies to your situation with qualified counsel.
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