CONCORD, N.H. — Authorities are issuing cease-and-desist orders against two Texas companies they believe were connected to robocalls that used artificial intelligence to mimic President Joe Biden’s voice and discourage people from voting in New Hampshire’s first-in-the-nation primary last month.
New Hampshire Attorney General John Formella said investigators have identified the source of the calls as Life Corporation and said they were transmitted by a company called Lingo Telecom. New Hampshire issued cease-and-desist orders and subpoenas to both companies, while the Federal Communications Commission issued a cease-and-desist letter to the telecommunications company, Formella said. In a statement, the FCC said it was trying to stop “behavior that violates voter suppression laws.”
During a news conference to discuss the investigation, Formella described the calls as the clearest and possibly first known attempt to use AI to interfere with an election in the U.S. He noted that the calls went well beyond the political fliers that have landed in voters’ mailboxes during past elections.
“Calls using AI with something as deceptive as trying to clone the voice of the president of the United States, we haven’t seen something like that before so close to an election with such a blatant attempt to mislead voters,” Formella said. “We don’t want it to be the first of many. We want this to be an example for us to point to, but also an enforcement example for anyone out there who would consider doing this.”
No one answered the door at the offices of Life Corporation, in a strip mall in Arlington, Texas, on Tuesday afternoon. Phone messages and emails left for Life Corporation’s owner, Walter Monk, were not returned.
Lingo Telecom said in an emailed statement that it “acted immediately" to help the task force of state attorneys general with their investigation.
“On the same day we were contacted by the Task Force, we quickly identified and suspended the involved account, and will continue to cooperate with federal and state investigators to bring a resolution to this matter,” the statement read. “Lingo remains committed to upholding the highest standards of customer care in compliance with all its regulatory obligations.”
The recorded message was sent to between 5,000 and 25,000 voters two days before the Jan. 23 primary. It used a voice similar to Biden’s, employed his often-used phrase, “What a bunch of malarkey” and falsely suggested that voting in the primary would preclude voters from casting a ballot in November’s general election.
The calls falsely showed up to recipients as coming from the personal cellphone number of Kathy Sullivan, a former state Democratic Party chair who helps run Granite for America, a super PAC that supported the Biden write-in campaign. Formella said at least 10 people who received the calls then called Sullivan.
Sullivan praised investigators Monday for their speed and effort.
“Anyone who tries to suppress the vote in a democracy is a disgrace,” she said in an email.
Biden's campaign praised the investigation into the calls.
“Disinformation aimed at suppressing voting and deliberately undermining free and fair elections is an unacceptable threat, and we commend the New Hampshire Attorney General for taking the matter seriously and moving swiftly as a powerful example against further efforts to disrupt democratic elections,” campaign manager Julie Chávez Rodriguez said.
The FCC’s cease-and-desist letter to Lingo Telecom said the investigation involved working with the Industry Traceback Group, a consortium of telecom and broadband industry service providers that can trace calls to their source, even if they have been “spoofed” to make it look like they came from someone else.
The letter said once Lingo Telecom was identified as the original provider for the calls, the company identified Life Corporation as the party who initiated them. According to New Hampshire authorities, Lingo Telecom also suspended services to Life Corporation after learning of the investigation.