MADISON, Wis. — Earlier this week, Rebecca Cooke sent a cease and desist letter to Congressman Derrick Van Orden over AI videos Van Orden has posted on social media. The videos depict Cooke saying things she has never said and are purposefully made to deceive voters about Cooke’s stances. Van Orden primarily produces the videos using Elon Musk’s AI bot Grok—which has received serious criticism for producing sexually explicit content of women without their consent. Coincidentally, Elon Musk is bankrolling Derrick Van Orden’s re-election campaign.

See below for coverage on Cooke’s cease and desist: 

Leader-Telegram: Cooke sends cease and desist letter to Van Orden over AI videos on social media

Democratic candidate for congress Rebecca Cooke filed a cease and desist letter this week to Rep. Derrick Van Orden (R-Prairie du Chien) over AI videos posted on social media.

The letter cites a post made using deepfake on Van Orden’s X account on Aug. 4, 2026. In it, Cooke is standing next to former President Joe Biden and says she seeks “to take advantage of as much corruption as possible and give every illegal alien free healthcare.”

Both candidates are currently campaigning for Wisconsin’s Third Congressional District this fall, with an election taking place on Tuesday, Nov. 3.

Cooke’s legal counsel wrote, “Ms. Cooke never made the statements attributed to her. She does not support, and has never supported, the positions ascribed to her in this deepfake. 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.

“You are indisputably posting videos falsely conveying that Ms. Cooke has made particular statements, given the veneer of truth by putting them into the mouth of an AI-generated image of Ms. Cooke, for the patently obvious purpose of harming Ms. Cooke’s reputation for your own political advantage.”

WEAU: Rebecca Cooke sends Derrick Van Orden cease and desist over AI deepfake videos

On Wednesday, Cooke for Congress sent a cease and desist letter to Derrick Van Orden over his AI deepfake videos.

According to a press release, the letter directed him to stop producing defamatory and false AI deepfake videos and publicizing them through his social media accounts.

WQOW: Cooke sends Van Orden cease and desist letter over AI videos

Democratic candidate Rebecca Cooke says she is sending her Republican opponent Rep. Derrick Van Orden a Cease and Desist letter over AI videos on his social media accounts.

Cooke’s campaign counsel says the letter directs Van Orden to stop producing “defamatory and false AI deepfake videos.”

Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Cooke sends cease and desist to Van Orden over AI deepfake videos

An attorney for Rebecca Cooke, the Democratic candidate vying for Wisconsin’s 3rd Congressional District, sent a cease and desist notice to her opponent over his use of her likeness in a series of deepfake videos shared on social media.

Cooke’s team sent a letter to U.S. Rep. Derrick Van Orden, who is vying for his third term in the district, asking him to stop his use of AI, promising to “monitor whether this defamatory conduct persists.”

“Apparently unable to run a campaign based on the issues, you have made AI deepfakes a centerpiece of your attacks on Ms. Cooke, posting myriad such videos,” attorney Ben Stafford wrote.

WPR: Cooke campaign sends cease-and-desist to Congressman Van Orden over AI deepfakes

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.”

Wisconsin State Journal: Cooke sends cease and desist notice to Van Orden over AI deepfakes

Democratic candidate for Wisconsin’s 3rd Congressional District, Rebecca Cooke, has issued a cease-and-desist letter to Republican Congressman Derrick Van Orden over his use of AI-generated deepfakes of Cooke.

On Wednesday, Elias Law Group sent U.S. representative the notice for his use of “misleading” AI-generated videos on behalf of Cooke.

“He’s been using AI to put words in my mouth because he has nothing else to run on,” said Cooke on X. “These defamatory, misleading videos undermine our democratic process and are the exact kind of mudslinging voters are tired of.”

The Hill: Van Orden hit with cease and desist letter from Democratic opponent over AI deepfake ads

Rep. Derrick Van Orden (R-Wis.) was hit with a cease and desist letter from his Democratic opponent, Rebecca Cooke, after the lawmaker aired AI deepfake campaign advertisements about her.

“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 videos,” reads the letter, which Cooke shared on social media.

Cooke’s lawyer wrote the videos “undermine our democratic process” and said it was “the exact kind of mudslinging voters are tired of.”