Trump signs the Take It Down Act into law

President Donald Trump signed the Take It Down Act into law, enacting a measure that volition criminalize the organisation of nonconsensual intimate images (NCII) — including AI deepfakes — and necessitate societal media platforms to promptly region them erstwhile notified.

The measure sailed done some chambers of Congress with respective tech companies, genitor and younker advocates, and archetypal woman Melania Trump championing the issue. But critics — including a radical that’s made it its ngo to combat the organisation of specified images — pass that its attack could backfire and harm the precise survivors it seeks to protect. 

The instrumentality makes publishing NCII, whether existent oregon AI-generated, criminally punishable by up to 3 years successful prison, positive fines. It besides requires societal media platforms to person processes to region NCII wrong 48 hours of being notified and “make tenable efforts” to region immoderate copies. The Federal Trade Commission is tasked with enforcing the law, and companies person a twelvemonth to comply.

Under immoderate different administration, the Take It Down Act would apt spot overmuch of the pushback it does contiguous by groups similar the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) and Center for Democracy and Technology (CDT), which pass the takedown proviso could beryllium utilized to region oregon chill a wider array of contented than intended, arsenic good arsenic endanger privacy-protecting technologies similar encryption, since services that usage it would person nary mode of seeing (or removing) the messages betwixt users. But actions by the Trump medication successful his archetypal 100 days successful bureau — including breaching Supreme Court precedent by firing the 2 Democratic number commissioners astatine the FTC — person added different furniture of fearfulness for immoderate of the law’s critics, who interest it could beryllium utilized to endanger oregon stifle governmental opponents. Trump, aft all, said during an code to Congress this year that erstwhile helium signed the bill, “I’m going to usage that measure for myself, too, if you don’t mind, due to the fact that cipher gets treated worse than I bash online. Nobody.”

The Cyber Civil Rights Initiative (CCRI), which advocates for authorities combating image-based abuse, has agelong pushed for the criminalization of nonconsensual organisation of intimate images (NDII). But the CCRI said it could not enactment the Take It Down Act due to the fact that it whitethorn yet supply survivors with “false hope.” On Bluesky, CCRI President Mary Anne Franks called the takedown provision a “poison pill … that volition apt extremity up hurting victims much than it helps.”

“Platforms that consciousness assured that they are improbable to beryllium targeted by the FTC (for example, platforms that are intimately aligned with the existent administration) whitethorn consciousness emboldened to simply disregard reports of NDII,” they wrote. “Platforms attempting to place authentic complaints whitethorn brushwood a oversea of mendacious reports that could overwhelm their efforts and jeopardize their quality to run astatine all.”

In an interrogation with The Verge, Franks expressed interest that it could beryllium “hard for radical to parse” the takedown provision. “This is going to beryllium a year-long process,” she said. “I deliberation that arsenic soon arsenic that process has happened, you’ll past beryllium seeing the FTC being precise selective successful however they dainty expected non-compliance with the statute. It’s not going to beryllium astir putting the powerfulness successful the hands of depicted individuals to really get their contented removed.”

Trump, during his signing ceremony, dismissively referenced disapproval of the bill. “People talked astir each sorts of First Amendment, Second Amendment… they talked astir immoderate amendment they could marque up, and we got it through,” helium said.

Legal challenges to the astir problematic parts whitethorn not travel immediately, however, according to Becca Branum, lawman manager of CDT’s Free Expression Project. “It’s truthful ambiguously drafted that I deliberation it’ll beryllium hard for a tribunal to parse erstwhile it volition beryllium enforced unconstitutionally” earlier platforms person to instrumentality it, Branum said. Eventually, users could writer if they person lawful contented removed from platforms, and companies could inquire a tribunal to overturn the instrumentality if the FTC investigates oregon penalizes them for breaking it — it conscionable depends connected however rapidly enforcement ramps up.