California Enacts SB 1111, Extending Likeness and Impersonation Law to Digital Replicas

Senate Bill 1111 (Ashby) was approved by the Governor and filed with the Secretary of State on September 30, 2026 as Chapter 862, Statutes of 2026. It amends Civil Code Section 3344 so that the right-of-publicity cause of action for unauthorized use of a person's voice or likeness covers a digital replica, and removes the rebuttable presumption that had applied when an employee's photograph or likeness appeared incidentally in an advertisement. New Penal Code Section 540 provides that, for any offense requiring false impersonation of another, including Sections 528.5, 529, and 530, false impersonation includes using a digital replica with intent to impersonate. It carries no urgency clause or special operative date, so it takes effect January 1, 2027 under California's default rule for statutes enacted in a regular session. Chaptered text retrieved 2026-10-12.

Source: leginfo.legislature.ca.gov