SE North Carolina News

The Senate has passed the TAKE IT DOWN Act, officially known as S. 4569, which aims to criminalize the publication of non-consensual intimate imagery (NCII), including AI-generated NCII. The legislation mandates that social media and similar websites remove such content within 48 hours upon receiving notice from a victim. This bill now advances to the House for further consideration.

Senators Ted Cruz (R-TX) and Amy Klobuchar (D-MN) led the initiative. Senator Budd expressed his support by stating, "The distressing growth in online sexual exploitation requires a robust national response. The Take it Down Act builds on existing federal law and establishes a requirement for websites to respond to victims and take down explicit material. I have been proud to be a part of this bipartisan effort to protect Americans from these crimes and bring the perpetrators to justice. I urge the House to approve this legislation and urge the president to sign it into law."

Senator Cruz highlighted the impact on victims, particularly teenage girls, saying, "Over the past several months, courageous victims of AI-deepfake ‘revenge porn’ have shared their stories to raise awareness and inform lawmakers’ efforts to stop this despicable behavior. Passage of our bipartisan TAKE IT DOWN Act will give innocent victims — many of whom are teenage girls —the opportunity to seek justice against deviants who publish these abusive images. It will also hold Big Tech accountable by making sure websites remove these disgusting fake videos and pictures immediately."

He emphasized the urgency of addressing deepfakes: "For young victims and their parents, these deepfakes are a matter requiring urgent attention and protection in law. I will continue to work with my colleagues in Washington to move this common-sense bipartisan legislation quickly through the House and to the President’s desk so it can be signed into law."

Senator Klobuchar added her perspective on providing legal protections: "We must provide victims of online abuse with the legal protections they need when intimate images are shared without their consent, especially now that deepfakes are creating horrifying new opportunities for abuse. This bipartisan legislation builds on my work to ensure that victims can have this material removed from social media platforms and will ensure law enforcement can hold perpetrators accountable."