A telecommunications company has agreed to pay a $1 million fine for transmitting spoofed robocalls featuring a deepfake of President Joe Biden’s voice, urging New Hampshire residents not to vote. Lingo Telecom, based in Texas, came to a settlement with the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), as announced today by the agency.
The FCC emphasized that Lingo Telecom will implement a unique compliance plan aimed at adhering to STIR/SHAKEN Caller ID authentication rules. This plan involves strict adherence to ‘Know Your Customer’ (KYC) and ‘Know Your Upstream Provider’ (KYUP) principles to verify call traffic authenticity.
These measures were necessitated by Lingo Telecom’s transmission of 3,978 calls to New Hampshire voters before January’s presidential primary. The calls, organized by Democratic consultant Steve Kramer, falsely displayed a phone number associated with a prominent New Hampshire political figure. Kramer has since been indicted for voter suppression and the impersonation of a candidate, while the FCC initially proposed a $6 million fine for him.
The FCC originally suggested a $2 million fine for Lingo but settled on $1 million. The formal consent decree outlines that Lingo Telecom must also obtain more detailed information from both its customers and other telecommunications companies it collaborates with.
Lingo Telecom admitted to assigning A-level attestations to traffic based on customer certification rather than independent verification. Going forward, the company is banned from accepting cryptocurrency, gift cards, or cash for transmitting calls. The consent decree is effective for three years, with possible extensions for noncompliance.