Washington — The House passed a bipartisan bill Monday that makes it a federal crime to post real and fake sexually explicit imagery online of a person without their consent, sending the legislation that was backed by first lady Melania Trump to the president’s desk.
The bill, known as the “Take It Down Act,” cleared the lower chamber in a 409-2 vote. The two “no” votes came from Republicans. The Senate unanimously passed the measure in February.
The legislation requires social media companies and other websites to remove images and videos, including deepfakes generated by artificial intelligence, within 48 hours after a victim’s request.
“If you’re a victim of revenge porn or AI-generated explicit imagery, your life changes forever,” Sen. Ted Cruz, a Texas Republican, said at a March 3 roundtable promoting the bill.
Cruz, who introduced the bill, recalled the experience of a teenage victim, Elliston Berry, whose classmate used an app to create explicit images of her and then sent them to her classmates. Berry’s mother had tried unsuccessfully to get Snapchat to remove the images for months before she contacted Cruz’s office for help.
“It should not take a sitting senator or sitting member of Congress picking up the phone to get a picture down or video down,” Cruz said.
The first lady, who rarely appears in public, attended the March discussion at the U.S. Capitol to advocate for the bill’s passage in the House.
“It’s heartbreaking to witness young teens, especially girls, grappling with the overwhelming challenges posed by malicious online content like deep fakes,” she said. “This toxic environment can be severely damaging.”
The first lady applauded Congress after its passage and said the bipartisan vote made a “powerful statement that we stand united in protecting the dignity, privacy, and safety of our children.”
“I am thankful to the Members of Congress — both in the House and Senate — who voted to protect the well-being of our youth,” she said in a statement.
According to the FBI, in recent years there have been an alarming number of cases where victims have been extorted that have ended in suicide. Lawmakers said they hope the bill will save lives by providing recourse for victims.
“The mission of this bill is simple, profound and long lasting. It stops cyber abuse. It prevents the bullying of one child against another, and even more importantly, it prevents suicide born out of shame,” Republican Rep. Maria Elvira Salazar of Florida, who cosponsored the legislation in the House, said Monday during floor debate.
Meta, which owns Facebook and Instagram, as well as TikTok and Snapchat have all said they support the legislation.
Digital rights groups, however, have warned that the legislation as written could lead to the suppression of lawful speech, including legitimate pornography, and does not contain protections against bad-faith takedown requests.