The TAKE IT DOWN Act would protect and empower victims of non-consensual intimate image abuse
WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, the Senate unanimously passed the TAKE IT DOWN Act, which was introduced by U.S. Senate Commerce Committee Chairman Ted Cruz (R-Texas) and Senator Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.). The legislation criminalizes the publication of non-consensual intimate imagery (NCII), including AI-generated NCII (or “deepfake revenge pornography”), and requires social media and similar websites to implement procedures to remove such content within 48 hours of notice from a victim.
The bill unanimously passed both the Commerce Committee and the full Senate during the 118th Congress. For the current 119thCongress, U.S. Representatives Maria Elvira Salazar (R-Fla.) and Madeleine Dean (D-Pa.) have reintroduced companion legislation in the House as they did last Congress. The TAKE IT DOWN Act has received widespread support from over 100 organizations, including victim advocacy groups, law enforcement, and tech industry leaders.
Upon passage of the TAKE IT DOWN Act, Sen. Cruz said:
“The TAKE IT DOWN Act gives victims of revenge and deepfake pornography—many of whom are young girls—the ability to fight back. Under our bipartisan bill, those who knowingly spread this vile material will face criminal charges, and Big Tech companies must remove exploitative content without delay. As we worked on the TAKE IT DOWN Act, more victims courageously came forward to share their stories to help end this horrific online abuse. Now, it’s up to the House to pass the TAKE IT DOWN Act and give victims the power to reclaim their privacy and dignity.”
Sen. Klobuchar said:
“We must provide victims of online abuse with the legal protections they need when intimate images are shared without their consent, especially now that deepfakes are creating horrifying new opportunities for abuse. Passing this bipartisan legislation builds on my work to ensure that victims can have this material removed from social media platforms and law enforcement can hold perpetrators accountable. The House should pass this bill and the President should sign it into law as soon as possible to protect victims of online abuse.”
The legislation is co-sponsored by Sens. Shelley Moore Capito (R-W.Va.), Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.), Bill Cassidy (R-La.), Cory Booker (D-N.J.), John Barrasso (R-Wyo.), Jacky Rosen (D-Nev.), Cynthia Lummis (R-Wyo.), John Hickenlooper (D-Colo.), Ted Budd (R-N.C.), Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.), Roger Wicker (R-Miss.), Todd Young (R-Ind.), John Curtis (R-Utah), Tim Sheehy (R-Mont.), Raphael Warnock (D-Ga.), Martin Heinrich (D-N.M.), Gary Peters (D-Mich.), Adam Schiff (D-Calif.), Catherine Cortez Masto (D-Nev.), and Jeanne Shaheen (D-N.H.).
Background:
While nearly every state has a law protecting people from non-consensual intimate imagery (NCII), including 30 states with laws explicitly covering sexual deepfakes, these state laws vary in classification of crime and penalty and have uneven criminal prosecution. Further, victims struggle to have images depicting them removed from websites, increasing the likelihood the images are continuously spread and victims are retraumatized.
In 2022, Congress passed legislation creating a civil cause of action for victims to sue individuals responsible for publishing NCII. However, bringing a civil action can be incredibly impractical. It is time-consuming, expensive, and may force victims to relive trauma. Further exacerbating the problem, it is not always clear who is responsible for publishing the NCII.
The TAKE IT DOWN Act would protect and empower victims of real and deepfake NCII while respecting speech by:
- Criminalizing the publication of NCII in interstate commerce. The bill makes it unlawful for a person to knowingly publish NCII on social media and other online platforms. NCII is defined to include realistic, computer-generated pornographic images and videos that depict identifiable, real people. The bill also clarifies that a victim consenting to the creation of an authentic image does not mean that the victim has consented to its publication.
- Protecting good faith efforts to assist victims. The bill permits the good faith disclosure of NCII, such as to law enforcement, in narrow cases.
- Requiring websites to take down NCII upon notice from the victim. Social media and other websites would be required to have in place procedures to remove NCII, pursuant to a valid request from a victim, within 48 hours. Websites must also make reasonable efforts to remove copies of the images. The FTC is charged with enforcement of this section.
- Protecting lawful speech. The bill is narrowly tailored to criminalize knowingly publishing NCII without chilling lawful speech. The bill conforms to current First Amendment jurisprudence by requiring that computer-generated NCII meet a “reasonable person” test for appearing indistinguishable from an authentic image.
To read the bill text, click HERE.
