WASHINGTON – Today, U.S. Senators Amy Klobuchar (D-MN) and Ted Cruz (R-TX) announced that their bipartisan TAKE IT DOWN Act was signed into law.
The TAKE IT DOWN Act criminalizes the publication of non-consensual intimate imagery (NCII), including AI-generated NCII, and requires social media and similar websites to have in place procedures to remove such content within 48 hours of notice from a victim.
“Passing the TAKE IT DOWN Act into law is a major victory for victims of online abuse – giving people legal protections and tools for when their intimate images, including deepfakes, are shared without their consent, and enabling law enforcement to hold perpetrators accountable,” said Sen. Klobuchar. “This is also a landmark move towards establishing common-sense rules of the road around social media and AI. Thank you to the victims, advocates, and law enforcement officials who have banded together to work with Senator Cruz and me to pass this legislation. The support of the First Lady has been key to this effort, and I am glad the President is signing this historic bill into law.”
“The TAKE IT DOWN ACT is an historic win for victims of revenge porn and deepfake image abuse. Predators who weaponize new technology to post this exploitative filth will now rightfully face criminal consequences, and Big Tech will no longer be allowed to turn a blind eye to the spread of this vile material,” said Sen. Cruz. “This day stands as a powerful testament to the bravery and dedication of Elliston Berry, Francesca Mani, Breeze Liu, and Brandon Guffey, whose relentless advocacy made this law possible. I am deeply grateful to my legislative partners, particularly Sen. Amy Klobuchar and First Lady Melania Trump, for their collaboration in advancing this critical legislation to protect every American’s privacy and dignity online.”
The TAKE IT DOWN Act protects and empowers 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, or threaten to 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.
The legislation was co-sponsored by Shelley Moore Capito (R-WV), Richard Blumenthal (D-CT), Bill Cassidy (R-LA), Cory Booker (D-NJ), John Barrasso (R-WY), Jacky Rosen (D-NV), Cynthia Lummis (R-WY), John Hickenlooper (D-CO), Ted Budd (R-NC), Marsha Blackburn (R-TN), Roger Wicker (R-MS), Todd Young (R-IN), John Curtis (R-UT), Tim Sheehy (R-MT), Raphael Warnock (D-GA), Martin Heinrich (D-NM), Gary Peters (D-MI), Adam Schiff (D-CA), Catherine Cortez Masto (D-NV), and Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH).
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