Cooke Campaign Demands Van Orden Stop Using AI Deepfake Attack Ads
Cease-and-desist letter alleges the Republican is defaming his Democratic challenger with fake videos.
U.S. Rep. Derrick Van Orden and Rebecca Cooke. Angela Major/WPR and Hope Kirwan/WPR
Attorneys for congressional candidate Rebecca Cooke have sent a cease-and-desist letter to U.S. Rep. Derrick Van Orden, R- Prairie du Chien, over Van Orden’s use of deepfake videos.
Cooke, a Democrat, is challenging Van Orden this November in a closely-watched race for Wisconsin’s 3rd Congressional district.
Van Orden has repeatedly used artificial intelligence to post videos to his X account, showing Cooke saying things she never said.
The videos posted to that platform come with an automatic label, indicating that they were made with “Grok Imagine,” an AI image and video generator.
In one such video, an AI-generated version of Cooke says “Let the peasants eat cake. They will vote for me anyway.” In another fake video, Cooke’s avatar says “There is a 100 percent chance I just voted for two Communists.”
The cease-and-desist notice specifically points to a video shared by Van Orden on Aug. 4. It shows a fake version of Cooke speaking into a microphone, while an AI-generated image of former President Joe Biden pops up in the periphery.
The AI version of Cooke says she’s running for Congress to “take advantage of as much corruption as possible and give every illegal alien free healthcare.”
That, the letter says, is “pure fiction.”
“Ms. Cooke never made the statements attributed to her,” attorney Ben Stafford wrote on Sept. 30. “You are airing this false content to attempt to fool the voters of Wisconsin into believing she said something she did not to harm her reputation for your own political gain.”
The letter suggests that, by sharing the videos, Van Orden risks running afoul of state law that prohibits a public figure from acting with “actual malice” to defame someone. Defamation can include publishing a false statement in order to harm someone’s reputation, the letter notes.
“Not only are these ads beneath the dignity of your office, but Wisconsin’s common law of defamation fills the gaps yet remaining in Wisconsin’s statutory protections against fake AI,” the letter says.
The letter says that Cooke’s attorneys are monitoring Van Orden’s social media accounts, and warns that they are weighing “all legal options” if Van Orden persists in “misusing AI to defame Ms. Cooke.”
“Derrick Van Orden can’t run on his record, and is instead spending his time and energy producing AI videos putting words in my mouth,” Cooke said in a statement, before seemingly referencing Van Orden’s support for the federal One Big Beautiful Act. “Ironically, these deep fakes are facilitated by the same data centers Derrick Van Orden gave special tax breaks at the expense of our energy and health care bills.”
The OBBA included tax breaks for many types of businesses, and those incentives have been used by tech companies that build data centers.
In their own news release, Van Orden’s campaign accused Cooke of throwing a “full blow tantrum.”
“Rebecca Cooke has spent six years running for office, lying to voters about who she is and her record,” the campaign said.
Cooke first ran for the 3rd district in southwest Wisconsin’s Driftless Area, during a 2022 primary in which she lost to Democrat Brad Pfaff. In 2024, Cooke won the Democratic primary for that seat, but lost to Van Orden in the general election by about 3 percentage points.
On social media this week, Van Orden responded to the cease-and-desist letter with another Grok-assisted video.
The short clip includes a red AI-generated duck.
“Cease and desist!” the duck exclaims.
Cooke campaign sends cease-and-desist to Congressman Van Orden over AI deepfakes was originally published by Wisconsin Public Radio.
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