WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump signed a bill on Monday that would make it a criminal offense to disseminate nonconsensual sexually explicit images, one of the only bills approved by his administration that got overwhelming bipartisan support in Congress.
The Take It Down Act would criminalize the distribution of such 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 bill passed the House and Senate with near unanimity, with only two Republicans in the House voting against the measure.
“This will be the first ever federal law to combat the distribution of explicit, imaginary (photos) posted without the subject’s consent,” Trump said from the White House Rose Garden on Monday. “Very importantly, this includes forgeries generated by artificial intelligence, known as deepfakes. We’ve all heard about deepfakes. I have all the time, but I don’t — Nobody does anything."
“Countless women have been harassed with deepfakes and other explicit images distributed against their will,” he added. “This is wrong and it’s just so horribly wrong, and it’s a very abusive situation ... and today we’re making it totally illegal.”
The Take It Down Act is only the sixth piece of legislation signed by Trump in his second term.
The bill marks a significant moment, as it’s the first law dealing with the regulation of internet content to be signed by the president since 2018 — and that’s largely thanks to Trump and first lady Melania Trump, who heavily whipped support for the measure.
Melania Trump encouraged passage of bill
The president pushed for the bill to clear Congress, especially after the first lady made it a key focus of her “Be Best” initiative earlier this year. Melania Trump’s efforts were “instrumental” in getting the bill passed this year after GOP leadership failed to bring it to the floor for a vote last year.
“The first lady met with members in the House and the Senate, survivors and their families and advocates throughout the process to get this bill across the finish line,” White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said at the press briefing.
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.
The bill’s passage could also clear 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 as of Monday.