TAKE IT DOWN Act
Key claim: The TAKE IT DOWN Act prohibits nonconsensual online publication of authentic or computer-generated intimate visual depictions and requires covered user-generated-content platforms to remove them within 48 hours of notice, with criminal penalties and mandatory restitution.
Abstract
(HR633 · 119th Congress) Tools to Address Known Exploitation by Immobilizing Technological Deepfakes On Websites and Networks Act or the TAKE IT DOWN Act This bill generally prohibits the nonconsensual online publication of intimate visual depictions of individuals, both authentic and computer-generated, and requires certain online platforms to promptly remove such depictions upon receiving notice of their existence. Specifically, the bill prohibits the online publication of intimate visual depictions of an adult subject where publication is intended to cause or does cause harm to the subject, and where the depiction was published without the subject’s consent or, in the case of an authentic depiction, was created or obtained under circumstances where the adult had a reasonable expectation of privacy; or a minor subject where publication is intended to abuse or harass the minor or to arouse or gratify the sexual desire of any person. Violators are subject to mandatory restitution and criminal penalties, including prison, a fine, or both. Threats to publish intimate visual depictions of a subject are similarly prohibited under the bill and subject to criminal penalties. Separately, covered platforms must establish a process through which subjects of intimate visual depictions may notify the platform of the existence of, and request removal of, an intimate visual depiction including the subject that was published without the subject’s consent. Covered platforms must remove such depictions within 48 hours of notification. Under the bill, covered platforms are defined as public websites, online services, or applications that primarily provide a forum for user-generated content. Latest action (2025-04-28): Placed on the Union Calendar, Calendar No. 59.
Why this matters
The TAKE IT DOWN Act is the first enacted federal criminal prohibition on nonconsensual intimate imagery — including AI-generated deepfakes — and pairs it with a mandatory 48-hour platform removal duty, materially expanding remedies for victims (disproportionately women and minors) whose images are weaponized online. It also sets a concrete statutory template for notice-and-takedown obligations that other likeness, deepfake, and online-safety proposals in the civil rights space will be measured against, while raising contested questions about First Amendment scope, takedown abuse, and platform compliance burdens.