On Monday President Trump signed a bill into law penalizing “revenge porn” and similar explicit nonconsensual depictions of individuals, including those made with artificial intelligence (AI).
US Senator Ted Cruz sponsored the bill, called the “Take It Down Act,” which has also received support from First Lady of the United States Melania Trump.
The bill’s summary states: “This bill generally prohibits the nonconsensual online publication of intimate visual depictions of individuals, both authentic and computer-generated, and requires certain online platforms to promptly remove such depictions upon receiving notice of their existence.”
The bill further describes what type of imagery is being prohibited:
- “an adult subject where publication is intended to cause or does cause harm to the subject, and 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; or
- a minor subject where publication is intended to abuse or harass the minor or to arouse or gratify the sexual desire of any person.”
Penalties for violating any measure in the act include prison, a fine, or both. “Threats to publish intimate visual depictions of a subject are similarly prohibited under the bill and subject to criminal penalties,” the bill states.
The act also aims to hold online platforms accountable for containing such content outlawed in the act:
“Separately, covered platforms must establish a process through which subjects of intimate visual depictions may notify the platform of the existence of, and request removal of, an intimate visual depiction including the subject that was published without the subject’s consent,” The bill states. “Covered platforms must remove such depictions within 48 hours of notification. Under the bill, covered platforms are defined as public websites, online services, or applications that primarily provide a forum for user-generated content.”
Aside from authentic explicit imagery, the bill notably prohibits “digital forgery.” This “forgery” is using AI to manipulate and transform an image far beyond its original appearance, rendering it indistinguishable from an “authentic visual depiction of the individual.”
TPUSA Frontlines Reporter and White House Correspondent Monica Paige reported on the “Take It Down” act signing Monday. Paige also interviewed Elliston Berry, a teenager who had an explicit digitally manipulated image of her spread around social media without her consent.
