The Take It Down Act, a measure that may criminalize the publication of nonconsensual sexually express deepfakes, handed the Home on Monday and now heads to President Trump’s desk.
The measure cleared the Home in an amazing 409-2 vote, with 22 members not voting. Reps. Thomas Massie (R-Ky.) and Eric Burilson (R-Mo.) had been the only real “no” votes.
The invoice would make it a federal crime to knowingly put up or threaten to publish life like, computer-generated pornographic pictures and movies that try to point out identifiable, actual individuals on social media and elsewhere on-line.
Trump indicated final month he plans to signal the invoice.
“The Senate just passed the Take It Down Act. Once it passes the House, I look forward to signing that bill into law,” Trump advised a joint session of Congress in early March. “And 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.”
First woman Melania Trump additionally got here out in assist of the invoice, attending a roundtable on the measure final month.
She was fast to applaud the passage on Monday night.
“At present’s bipartisan passage of the Take It Down Act is a robust assertion that we stand united in defending the dignity, privateness, and security of our youngsters,” the primary woman wrote in a press release.
The measure was sponsored by Senate Commerce Chair Ted Cruz (R-Texas) and Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.) within the higher chamber, whereas Reps. Elvira Salazar (R-Fla.) and Madeline Dean (D-Pa.) had been the co-leads on the Home model.
Cruz celebrated the invoice’s passage on Monday, calling it a “historic win in the fight to protect victims of revenge porn and deepfake abuse.”
“By requiring social media companies to take down this abusive content quickly, we are sparing victims from repeated trauma and holding predators accountable,” he wrote in a press release.
Massie defined his “no” vote on X writing, “I’m voting NO because I feel this is a slippery slope, ripe for abuse, with unintended consequences.”
The invoice marks the primary youth on-line security invoice to cross Congress this session, handing some lawmakers a win after failing to cross most associated laws final yr.
Tech security teams and households have led lobbying efforts for years to cross laws just like the Take It Down Act, with hopes of holding know-how corporations accountable for social media harms, particularly on younger youngsters.
Among the many payments being pushed by many on-line security teams is the Youngsters On-line Security Act (KOSA), which might create rules for the sorts of options tech and social media corporations provide children on-line.
KOSA handed the Senate in a 91-3 vote final session however didn’t make it to the Home flooring amid considerations from GOP management that it will stifle free speech.
Whereas some lawmakers have expressed considerations Trump would facet with know-how corporations as a result of his newfound connections with some Large Tech leaders, Cruz advised The Hill final month he doesn’t anticipate that being the case.
“Every conversation I’ve had with the Trump administration on this topic has evidenced a commitment to protecting free speech and ending Big Tech censorship,” he mentioned, pointing to the president and first woman’s assist of the Take It Down Act.
Some tech coverage teams, together with People for Accountable Innovation (ARI), an AI advocacy group, celebrated the invoice’s passage.
“For the first time in years, Congress is passing legislation to protect vulnerable communities online and requiring tech giants to clean up their act,” ARI President Brad Carson mentioned. “This invoice goes to make a distinction within the lives of victims and stop one other technology from being focused with non-consensual intimate deepfakes.”
In the meantime, others within the coverage house fear the Take It Down Act will find yourself stifling speech.
“The TAKE IT DOWN Act is a missed opportunity for Congress to meaningfully help victims of nonconsensual intimate imagery,” mentioned Becca Branum, the deputy director of the Heart for Democracy and Expertise’s Free Expression Challenge.
“The best of intentions can’t make up for the bill’s dangerous implications for constitutional speech and privacy online,” she mentioned Monday. “The Take It Down Act, while well-intentioned, was written without appropriate safeguards to prevent the mandated removal of content that is not nonconsensual intimate imagery, making it vulnerable to constitutional challenge and abusive takedown requests.”
