New Hampshire Attorney General John Formella revealed that robocalls using an AI-generated clone of President Biden’s voice urged voters not to participate in the state’s primaries.
These calls were traced back to Texas-based companies, leading to potential federal and state actions to uphold election integrity.
“The robocalls illegally spoofed their caller ID information to appear to come from a number belonging to the former chair of the New Hampshire Democratic Party. The recorded message also instructed recipients to call that number to ask that person be removed from future calls,” Formella said.
The attorney general’s office initiated an investigation, leading to the identification of the companies responsible.
“After we received multiple reports and complaints on the day these calls were made and the day after these calls were made, my office immediately opened an investigation,” he said.
“After looking at these tracebacks and reviewing the information received, we have identified the source of these calls to be Life Corporation, which is a Texas-based company owned by an individual named Walter Monk. The tracebacks also identified the originating source provider as Lingo Telecom, which is a Texas-based service provider. Other entities who are not necessarily responsible for the calls, but who we believe also have pertinent information have also been identified,” Formella said.
The FCC also issued a cease-and-desist order, and the attorney general’s anti-robocall task force is preparing for potential civil litigation.
“We will continue our work to identify and hold all individuals or companies who may be responsible for these acts accountable, and we are keeping all enforcement options on the table,” the state agency said.
The FCC on Tuesday also issued a cease-and-desist order to Lingo Telecom “demanding that it immediately stop allowing illegal robocall traffic on its platform,” Formella said. “Further enforcement action from the FCC remains on the table pending investigation.”
Formella emphasized the importance of maintaining public confidence in the electoral process and sent a strong message of deterrence against any attempt to undermine elections.
“Ensuring public confidence in the electoral process is vital, and in law enforcement I can say it’s one of our highest priorities,” Formella said. “We are providing this update and information today to ensure the public that we take this seriously and that this is one of our most important priorities, but we are also providing this update and information to send a strong message of deterrence to any person or entity who would attempt to undermine our elections through AI or other means. Our message is clear. Law enforcement across the country is unified on a bipartisan basis and ready to work together to combat any attempt to undermine our elections. We are committed to keeping our elections free, fair and secure.”
“We will not tolerate any action that seeks to undermine the integrity of our election and our democratic process,” he added.
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