The policy prohibits using OpenAI services to create content designed to undermine elections, including generating disinformation, fabricating statements by real candidates, or building tools to suppress voter participation.
This analysis describes what OpenAI's agreement states, permits, or reserves. It does not constitute a legal determination about enforceability. Regulatory applicability and practical outcomes may vary by jurisdiction, enforcement context, and individual circumstances. Read our methodology
This restriction applies to all users globally and covers both direct content generation and the development of tools designed to interfere with democratic processes.
Interpretive note: Verbatim text could not be extracted from the binary PDF. The provision is inferred from document metadata and publicly available OpenAI Usage Policy language consistent with this document version. The exact scope of permissible political commentary versus prohibited disinformation is not fully defined.
Users who attempt to use ChatGPT or the API to generate election-related disinformation, fabricate candidate statements, or build voter suppression tools are in direct violation of this policy and subject to account termination.
How other platforms handle this
ElevenLabs prohibits the use of its platform to create voice content designed to spread disinformation, including false statements of fact presented as genuine audio recordings of real individuals or fabricated news content.
You may not use the Services to generate content that violates applicable laws or regulations, including content that is defamatory, obscene, fraudulent, or that infringes the intellectual property rights of any third party.
Content that's meant to praise, promote, or aid violent extremist or criminal organizations is not allowed on YouTube. We rely on many factors — like certain government and international organization designations — to determine what constitutes criminal or terrorist organizations.
Monitoring
OpenAI has changed this document before.
Receive same-day alerts, structured change summaries, and monitoring for up to 25 platforms.
1. REGULATORY LANDSCAPE: This provision engages the Federal Election Campaign Act (FECA) and FEC regulations on political advertising and disinformation. State election laws, particularly in jurisdictions with AI-specific deepfake disclosure requirements (California, Texas, Minnesota), are also implicated. In the EU, the revised Code of Practice on Disinformation and the Digital Services Act (DSA) create platform-level obligations regarding electoral disinformation. The Electoral Integrity Partnership and national electoral commissions are relevant oversight bodies. 2. GOVERNANCE EXPOSURE: Medium to High. For operators deploying AI in political communication, media, or civic technology contexts, this provision creates significant compliance exposure. The boundary between permissible political commentary and prohibited disinformation may require case-by-case legal assessment. 3. JURISDICTION FLAGS: US operators face FEC and state election law exposure. EU operators face DSA obligations and national electoral integrity regulations. Jurisdictions with AI deepfake disclosure laws (California AB 602, Texas SB 751, Minnesota SF 3274) create heightened exposure for any operator generating synthetic media depicting real political figures. 4. CONTRACT AND VENDOR IMPLICATIONS: Political campaign technology vendors, media companies, and civic technology firms should review their API use cases against this prohibition and seek legal counsel on whether their specific use cases fall within permissible bounds. Contracts with political clients should include representations about compliance with this provision. 5. COMPLIANCE CONSIDERATIONS: Operators in the political technology or media sectors should implement specific content moderation for election-related outputs. Legal teams should monitor state-level AI disclosure requirements that may impose additional obligations beyond this policy.
Full compliance analysis
Regulatory citations, enforcement risk, and due diligence action items.
Free: track 1 platform + weekly digest. Monitor: 25 platforms + same-day alerts. No credit card required.
Compliance Governance Intelligence
Need to monitor specific governance provisions?
Compliance includes provision-level monitoring, governance timelines, regulatory mapping, and audit-ready analysis.
Built from archived source documents, structured governance mappings, and historical version tracking.
This restriction applies to all users globally and covers both direct content generation and the development of tools designed to interfere with democratic processes.
Users who attempt to use ChatGPT or the API to generate election-related disinformation, fabricate candidate statements, or build voter suppression tools are in direct violation of this policy and subject to account termination.
No. ConductAtlas is an independent monitoring service. We are not affiliated with, endorsed by, or sponsored by OpenAI.