The U.S. Senate has unanimously passed S. 4569, the Senate version of the TAKE IT DOWN Act, which aims to protect victims of real and deepfake 'revenge pornography.' This legislation, led by Senators Ted Cruz (R-TX) and Amy Klobuchar (D-MN), is a response to the increasing prevalence of non-consensual intimate imagery (NCII), exacerbated by advances in artificial intelligence.
Representative María Elvira Salazar (R-FL), who co-authored the House version of the bill with Representative Madeleine Dean (D-PA), emphasized the importance of this legislation for protecting women and girls from exploitation. "By voting for the TAKE IT DOWN Act, the Senate took a stand to protect women and girls victimized by bad actors stealing their likenesses to create fake revenge porn," said Salazar.
The bill criminalizes publishing harmful images without consent and mandates that websites remove such content promptly. "The Senate’s passage of the TAKE IT DOWN Act is a significant step forward in Congress’ responsibility to swiftly regulate some of the most harmful developments of AI," said Rep. Dean.
Senator Cruz highlighted that many victims are teenage girls, emphasizing that this issue requires urgent legal attention. He stated, "Passage of our bipartisan TAKE IT DOWN Act will give innocent victims — many of whom are teenage girls —the opportunity to seek justice against deviants who publish these abusive images."
Senator Klobuchar added that this legislation builds on efforts to ensure victims can have non-consensual material removed from social media platforms while holding perpetrators accountable.
The act addresses inconsistencies in state laws regarding deepfake NCII by establishing federal standards for prosecution and removal procedures. It includes provisions for criminalizing publication or threats involving NCII, allowing good faith disclosures for law enforcement purposes, requiring prompt removal upon notification from victims, and ensuring computer-generated NCII meets a 'reasonable person' test under First Amendment guidelines.
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