In the White House Rose Garden on Monday, President Donald Trump signed the Take It Down Act into law.
This federal law is designed to target non-consensual intimate imagery (NCII), which encompasses “revenge porn” and sexually explicit deepfakes.
“Revenge porn” which is when sexually explicit images of an individual are posted on the internet without their consent in an attempt to create public humiliation and character assassination. This has occurred for many years, especially with the growth of social media. This is typically carried out by someone's previous sexual partner. In fact, for some time, there were websites that were dedicated to revenge porn that would allow users to post explicit images of their exes.
Sexually explicit deepfakes are a different animal. These types of pornographic videos are created using artificial intelligence (AI) to show highly realistic depictions of specific individuals. These videos often “swap” a victim’s face onto the body of a person in a pre-existing pornographic video. Additionally, other AI tools can create realistic sexually explicit images of real people. In some cases, AI tools can “undress” people in real photos to make them appear nude.
According to NBC, in 2023, more nonconsensual sexually explicit deepfakes were posted online than in all previous years combined.
The law signed by Trump today criminalizes the publication of this type of content and requires it to be removed within 48 hours of notification from a victim. The law was championed by first lady Melania Trump. This bipartisan legislation was initially introduced by Republican Sen. Ted Cruz (TX) and Democrat Sen. Amy Klobuchar (MN).
"Today, through the Take It Down Act, we affirm that the wellbeing of our children is central to our future of our families in America," Melania Trump said in remarks at the bill signing.
"A lot of people [who are victims of online sexual exploitation] don't survive...it's horrible," President Trump said before he signed the bill, calling AI-generated deepfake videos "abusive."
"We will not tolerate online sexual exploitation...it's gone on at levels that nobody has even seen before. It's gotten worse and worse. I think this is going to hopefully stop it," President Trump said, noting that 99 senators voted in favor of this bipartisan bill.
.@FLOTUS speaks on the Take It Down Act and introduces @POTUS, who gave an update about his 2-hr long phone call with President Putin: pic.twitter.com/IC3xUl7QjJ
— Madeline Leesman (@MadelineLeesman) May 19, 2025
The Take It Down bill is now law of the land 🇺🇸 pic.twitter.com/i9nQonmYQP
— Madeline Leesman (@MadelineLeesman) May 19, 2025
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