WASHINGTON — The House approved a bill on Monday that would criminalize the nonconsensual dissemination of sexually explicit images, including those that are AI-generated, in a major step toward cracking down on internet companies that have so far evaded government regulation.
The Take It Down Act passed the House in a 409-2 vote on Monday, with only two Republicans opposing the proposal. The vote comes after the Senate unanimously approved the bill in February, now sending the legislation to President Donald Trump’s desk for approval.
“My TAKE IT DOWN Act will finally give innocent victims real protection from online exploitation,” Rep. Maria Salazar, R-Fla., who led the bill in the House, said in a statement. “Websites and platforms like Snapchat, Instagram, and TikTok must remove fake, compromising pornographic images within 48 hours or face consequences. No more inaction. No more excuses: if you exploit an innocent child, you will face jail time.”
The bill marks a significant moment, as it’s the first law dealing with the regulation of internet content to pass Congress since 2018. It’s also one of the only overwhelmingly bipartisan pieces of legislation to pass both chambers of Congress so far this year.
And that is in no small part due to Trump.
The president heavily pushed for the bill to clear Congress, especially after first lady Melania Trump made it a key focus of her “Be Best” initiative earlier this year. The near-unanimous support this year comes in stark contrast to last year, when House GOP leadership failed to bring it to the floor for a vote.
The first lady praised the bill’s passage on Monday evening, calling it a “powerful statement” against tech companies.
“I am thankful to the Members of Congress — both in the House and Senate — who voted to protect the well-being of our youth,” Melania Trump said in a statement. “Through this critical legislation and our continued focus with ‘Be Best,’ we are building a future where every child can thrive and achieve their full potential.”
Under the Take It Down Act, it would be illegal for anyone to knowingly publish nonconsensual sexually explicit images on social media or other online platforms. The bill would extend to “realistic, computer-generated pornographic images and videos that depict identifiable, real people.”
The legislation would require websites to take down any content flagged by the victim, even going so far as mandating social media companies to provide procedures for submitting removal requests. Those images must then be removed within 48 hours.
Additionally, websites would be required to make “reasonable efforts” to remove any copies of the images disseminated across the platform.
The bill received pushback from some free-speech advocates, who argued the bill constituted a “slippery slope” toward regulating other forms of expression online. However, lawmakers pointed to language that narrowly tailors its jurisdiction to “non-consensual intimate imagery.”
As part of that, the bill requires computer-generated content, also known as “deepfakes,” to meet a “reasonable person” test and appear “indistinguishable from an authentic image.”
If one is found in violation of the law, offenders will be subject to fines, prison time or both.
“It is outrageously sick to use images — the face, the voice, the likeness — of a young, vulnerable female, to manipulate them, to extort them and to humiliate them publicly just for fun, just for revenge,” Salazar said on Monday.
The bill’s passage could pave the way for lawmakers to begin cracking down on other explicit content online.
For example, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., introduced legislation last year to allow victims depicted in sexually explicit “deepfakes” to sue the creators of the content. That bill has not been reintroduced to this Congress.