TAKE IT DOWN Act would crack down on malicious uses of AI and protect victims of “deepfake porn”
WASHINGTON – Last week, U.S. Senator John Hickenlooper joined a bipartisan group of Senate colleagues to reintroduce the Tools to Address Known Exploitation by Immobilizing Technological Deepfakes on Websites and Networks (TAKE IT DOWN) Act. The legislation would criminalize the publication of non-consensual, intimate imagery (NCII), including AI-generated “deepfakes,” and require social media platforms and online sites to remove NCII within 48 hours of notice.
“It’s too easy for someone to misuse AI to generate harmful fake images depicting real people – including minors,” said Hickenlooper. “This bill will protect our children’s privacy and safety.”
New generative artificial intelligence tools are able to create lifelike, but fake, imagery depicting real people, known as deepfakes. Deepfakes have recently been used to target minors, including incidents where classmates used AI tools to create sexually explicit images of other classmates that they then shared on social media.
The TAKE IT DOWN Act protects Americans by making it unlawful for a person to knowingly publish sexually explicit deepfake images of an identifiable individual, and requiring social media companies and websites to remove the images promptly.
Specifically, the TAKE IT DOWN Act would:
- Criminalize the publication of NCII in interstate commerce. The bill makes it unlawful for a person to knowingly publish NCII on social media and other online platforms. NCII is defined to include realistic, computer-generated pornographic images and videos that depict identifiable, real people. The bill also clarifies that a victim consenting to the creation of an authentic image does not mean that the victim has consented to its publication.
- Protect good faith efforts to assist victims. The bill permits the good faith disclosure of NCII, such as to law enforcement, in narrow cases.
- Require websites to take down NCII upon notice from the victim. Social media and other websites would be required to have in place procedures to remove NCII, pursuant to a valid request from a victim, within 48 hours. Websites must also make reasonable efforts to remove copies of the images. The FTC is charged with enforcement of this section.
- Protect lawful speech. The bill is narrowly tailored to criminalize knowingly publishing NCII without barring lawful speech. The bill respects first amendment protections by requiring that computer-generated NCII meet a “reasonable person” test. Meaning, it must appear to realistically depict an individual.
Hickenlooper previously cosponsored the bill in the 118th Congress. Last Congress, the TAKE IT DOWN Act passed both the Senate Commerce Committee and the full Senate. It has widespread support from over 100 organizations, including victim advocacy groups, law enforcement, and tech industry leaders.
Full text of the bill available HERE.
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