When it comes to digital rights and protection, the United States’ federal government has generally failed to establish comprehensive legislation. On Monday, Congress seemed to make progress by nearly unanimously passing a bill to combat nonconsensual intimate images online. But as the bill heads to President Trump, who already voiced his intentions to sign it, digital rights advocates warn that a combination of vague language and lack of safeguards makes it ripe for misuse.
Introduced by Sens. Ted Cruz and Amy Klobuchar in 2024, the Take It Down Act criminalizes the distribution of nonconsensual intimate images (NCII) which includes “revenge porn” and AI deepfakes. It also requires specific platforms to establish processes to report NCII and remove offending content within 48 hours of notification.
The bill has garnered bipartisan support, including from Trump’s own family as his wife, Melania, hosted a White House roundtable about it in March. That same month, Trump told Congress that he “look[s] forward to signing that bill into law” during his address at a joint session. He added, “I’m going to use that bill for myself too if you don’t mind because nobody gets treated worse than I do online, nobody.”
In February, the bill unanimously passed the Senate, and it cleared the House with a 409-2 vote, which Cruz celebrated as a “historic win.” In a statement, Cruz said, “By requiring social media companies to take down this abusive content quickly, we are sparing victims from repeated trauma and holding predators accountable.”
“These images can ruin lives and reputations,” Klobuchar said in the same statement. “Victims will now be able to have this material removed from social media platforms and law enforcement can hold perpetrators accountable.”
Although the majority of states have laws prohibiting nonconsensual pornography, they don’t adequately protect a growing pool of victims. In a 2019 study, one of twelve participants reported victimization at least once in their lives, with women reporting higher rates of victimization. As AI further accelerates the issue by generating content featuring adults and children, states also struggle to define and regulate “deepfakes”.
On its surface, the Take It Down Act should be celebrated as a major advancement. But on Monday, the Cyber Civil Rights Initiative, which focuses on combating nonconsensual images, outlined numerous issues, including that the takedown provision is “highly susceptible to misuse and will likely be counter-productive for victims.” For example, there aren’t any safeguards against fake complaints, so it can easily be misappropriated to remove other content.
CCRI isn’t alone in its criticisms. In a statement, the Electronic Frontier Foundation also criticized the takedown provision, writing, “Services will rely on automated filters, which are infamously blunt tools.” With the law’s tight timeframe, platforms will likely “choose to avoid the onerous legal risk by simply depublishing” content before checking if it’s actually a problem.
These aren’t unfounded concerns. While some argue that the legislation is sound and cannot be misused by bad-faith individuals, including government officials, there are examples to look to. Between June 2019 and January 2020, the Digital Millennium Copyright Act received over thirty thousand false notices, which may be attempts to censor online speech or protect the reputation of public officials. YouTube famously has a takedown first, ask questions later copyright policy.
With the Take It Down Act expected to become law soon, other pending legislation like the DEFIANCE Act, which allows deepfake victims to sue those who create, share, and receive them, could build on its protections. But in a statement, Public Knowledge’s Senior Policy Counsel, Nick Garcia, said, “This was a chance to get it right, but unfortunately, Congress only got it half right—and half right laws can do real damage.”
