Deepfake

In brief

• The law mandates a 48-hour takedown of explicit images by tech platforms.
• First Lady Melania Trump called the law a “national victory” in the fight to protect children.
• Deepfake and revenge porn victims will now be federally protected under U.S. law.

President Donald Trump on Monday signed into law the bipartisan Take It Down Act, a sweeping measure that criminalizes the non-consensual online publication of intimate images, both authentic or AI-generated, and compels major tech platforms to remove such content within 48 hours of notification.

The law goes into effect immediately.

The signing ceremony also marked a rare symbolic moment as First Lady Melania Trump joined the president to add her signature. The law is a capstone of her recent public advocacy campaign focused on online exploitation and children’s safety in the digital age.

“This legislation is a powerful step forward in our efforts to ensure that every American, especially our young people, can feel better protected from their image or identity being abused through non-consensual intimate imagery or NCII,” Melania Trump said.

“AI and social media are the digital candy of the next generation—sweet, addictive, and engineered to have an impact on the cognitive development of our children,” she added. “But unlike sugar, these new technologies can be weaponized, shape beliefs, and sadly, affect emotions and even be deadly.” 

The legislation comes amid a surge in reports of deepfake pornography and non-consensual image abuse. High-profile figures like Taylor Swift and Jamie Lee Curtis, as well as underage children, have seen AI-generated images of themselves shared online without consent, some of which have been explicit. 

The Take It Down Act is one of the first major federal responses to the threat posed by generative AI.

The law makes it a federal crime to publish or threaten to publish non-consensual intimate images of adults or minors, including deepfakes, with the intent to harm or harass. Violators face criminal penalties, including prison and fines.

For adult subjects, the bill prohibits the online publication of intimate visual depictions when it is intended to cause or does cause harm to the subject.

That includes where the depiction was published without the subject’s consent or, in the case of an authentic depiction, was created or obtained under circumstances where the adult had a reasonable expectation of privacy.

For minors, the bill covers when publication is intended to abuse or harass the minor or to arouse or gratify the sexual desire of a person. 

Public websites, online services, or apps that host user-generated content must establish a clear takedown process and eliminate duplicates of flagged content.

The bill received near-unanimous support in Congress, passing the House 409-2 and the Senate by unanimous consent.

Melania Trump had lobbied lawmakers directly to support the bill, hosting victims at a Capitol Hill roundtable and bringing Elliston Berry as her guest to the president’s address to Congress in March. 

Edited by Sebastian Sinclair

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