Landmark U.S. Bill For AI Harms And Deepfake Abuse

On April 28, 2025 the U.S. House of Representatives passed the bipartisan, bicameral bill titled the “Take it Down Act” (the Bill).  The Bill is aimed at combating deepfake pornography by requiring social media platforms to remove explicit images found on their sites.

In 2022, Congress passed legislation establishing a civil cause of action for victims to sue those responsible for publishing non-consensual intimate imagery (NCII). However, pursing a civil lawsuit may be impractical due to time constraints, financial burden and the emotional toll it may place on victims. These challenges are compounded by the difficulty in identifying the individuals responsible for disseminating such images.

The introduction of the Bill marks a significant step forward in addressing these issues, particularly in light of the rapid rise of AI-generated sexual imagery. The Bill criminalizes the publication of NCII, defining it to include realistic, computer-generated intimate images and videos that depict identifiable, real people.  It requires social media and other websites to remove this content within 48 hours of receiving notice and mandates that they make reasonable efforts to remove duplicates.

In addition, the Bill introduces further measures to empower victims of real and deepfake NCII while respecting speech by:

1. Making it unlawful for a person to knowingly publish non-consensual intimate images on social media and other platforms. The Bill clarifies that a victim’s consent to the creation of authentic images does not imply consent to its publication.
2. Protecting good faith efforts to assist victims by permitting good faith disclosure of NCII, such as to law enforcement.
3. Protecting lawful speech by requiring that computer-generated NCII meet a “reasonable person” test for appearing indistinguishable from an authentic image.

To read the full Bill, see here.

Summary By: Victoria Di Felice