Label Check: AI-disclosure labels for ads running in Pennsylvania

The idea rests on a mistaken premise. Pennsylvania's new law is SB 806, the Artificial Intelligence Deceptive Advertising Act, reported as signed in October 2026 as Act 99 and taking effect about December 21, 2026. It covers commercial advertising that uses AI content in a way that could mislead buyers about the nature, origin or authenticity of a product. It is not a political ad law. One 2026 state survey says Pennsylvania still has no election deepfake disclosure law, only the 2025 digital forgery crime. So local political campaigns in Pennsylvania have no state AI label requirement to meet, and that customer should be dropped or limited to campaigns that also run ads in states like Michigan, Wisconsin or New York. The real opening is commercial. Small Pennsylvania agencies, plus out-of-state agencies whose ads run in Pennsylvania, will need a label that says the ad contains AI-generated or AI-modified content. The label must appear the first time the content is shown, run in the same medium, and meet the bill's clear-and-conspicuous rules on size, contrast, duration and audibility. Fines run up to $3,000 per violation, enforced by the Attorney General and county district attorneys. Nobody I found offers a Pennsylvania-specific label generator. The platform labels from Google and Meta don't show on-ad disclosures in Pennsylvania and say they don't guarantee compliance. They also do nothing for radio, TV, print or out-of-home ads, which is where a tool that outputs a text line, overlay, audio tag or end card has a real edge. The C2PA reading is a commodity, since free tools like Sightengine already do it, so the value lies in the questions, the label formats and the record-keeping. The Asset Log is the strongest defensive piece. The law turns on whether the advertiser acted knowingly or recklessly, so a dated record of how each creative was reviewed is useful evidence. That record could expand to cover New York, Hawaii and California's synthetic performer rules and become a multi-state product. The State Rules Table is the weakest piece because Public Citizen, CASRAI and law firms already publish similar trackers for free. It works best as a free marketing page that brings in users, not something people pay for. The main risks are the small number of Pennsylvania-only buyers and $3,000 fines that may not scare small agencies into paying. Platforms or AuditSocials-style tools could also add a Pennsylvania preset quickly. The early-mover window is roughly now until the first enforcement actions in 2027.

• Google Ads AI label control and auto-disclosures

  Google embeds C2PA and SynthID in assets made with its own ad tools and lets advertisers flag third-party AI assets by hand. It shows on-ad overlays only in the EU, India and New York, not Pennsylvania. Google says using the label does not guarantee legal compliance.

• Meta 'AI info' ad labels

  Meta labels ads automatically when its own generative tools are used, and it reads C2PA metadata from third-party tools. This only works inside Meta, so it does not cover print, radio, TV or direct mail.

• AuditSocials AI Compliance Audit and Disclosure Checker

  Free tool: you answer questions about your AI-generated social content and get a compliance score plus label guidance. It also offers a compliance API. It focuses on platform and FTC rules and has written about the New York synthetic performer law. It is the closest match to the 'answer a few questions, get a label' idea, but I saw nothing specific to Pennsylvania. The site also showed a sketchy sponsored ad.

• Luthor

  Compliance automation that scans marketing content such as websites, email and social posts for regulatory risk. It has been cited on the New York synthetic performer law. It is aimed at regulated mid-size and enterprise companies, not small agencies.

• Sightengine C2PA Check

  Free browser tool that reads C2PA Content Credentials and says whether an image is AI-generated. It covers only the detection half of Label Check and produces no labels. Several free Chrome extensions do the same thing.

• Public Citizen state election deepfake tracker

  Well-known, regularly updated free tracker of state bills that ban election deepfakes or require disclosure. It largely covers the political side of the proposed State Rules Table.

• CASRAI guide to state AI election disclosure laws

  Another free state-by-state guide to AI disclosure laws for political ads. Law firms such as Davis+Gilbert and WashU Law's resource page publish similar summaries.

Checked 2026-10-25