Bilirakis Shepherds Bipartisan Bill to Protect Victims of Non-Consensual Intimate Imagery through House

Washington, DC:  This week, the House passed the TAKE IT DOWN ACT, a bill Congressman Gus Bilirakis has helped shepherd through the legislative process in the House.  This bill would criminalize the publication of non-consensual, sexually exploitative images—including AI-generated deepfakes—and require platforms to remove images within 48 hours of notice.  To see Congressman Bilirakis speaking on the House Floor in support of this important bill, click here.  This bill will also help address a problem that recently occurred in Pasco County.  The Pasco Sheriff's Office acted quickly to investigate and arrest an elementary school teacher on child pornography charges.  However, during its investigation, the Pasco County Sheriff's Office discovered that the teacher was using yearbook photos of his students to create AI-generated child erotica. While the individual was able to be charged for some of the images, there were many more images in his possession that the police were unable to charge him for. The TAKE IT DOWN Act will help to close this loophole.   The TAKE IT DOWN Act will protect and empower victims of real and deepfake NCII while respecting speech by:

1. Criminalizing 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.
2. Protecting good faith efforts to assist victims. The bill permits the good faith disclosure of NCII, such as to law enforcement, in narrow cases.
3. Requiring 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.
4. Protecting lawful speech. The bill is narrowly tailored to criminalize knowingly publishing NCII without chilling lawful speech. The bill conforms to current First Amendment jurisprudence by requiring that computer-generated NCII meet a “reasonable person” test for appearing indistinguishable from an authentic image.

“I am glad we are one step closer to protecting victims of online sexual exploitation. Giving victims rights to flag non-consensual images and requiring social media companies to remove that content quickly is a pivotal and necessary change to the online landscape,” said Congressman Gus Bilirakis (FL-12), who serves as Chairman of the Subcommittee on Commerce, Manufacturing, and Trade. “And by ensuring that AI-generated deep-fake content is included in these protections, Congress is showing its commitment to fighting 21st Century harms that are plaguing our children and grandchildren.  I applaud Representatives María Elvira Salazar (R-FL), Madeleine Dean (D-PA), Vern Buchanan (R-FL), Debbie Dingell (D-MI), August Pfluger (R-TX), and Stacey Plaskett (D-VI)  for their tireless work on this issue, as well as our entire Subcommittee for their efforts to ensure final passage in the House.  I look forward to this much-needed legislation being signed into law by President Trump.”

While nearly every state has a law protecting people from non-consensual intimate imagery (NCII), including 30 states with laws explicitly covering sexual deepfakes, these state laws vary in classification of crime and penalty and have uneven criminal prosecution. Further, victims struggle to have images depicting them removed from websites, increasing the likelihood the images are continuously spread and victims are retraumatized.   In 2022, Congress passed legislation creating a civil cause of action for victims to sue individuals responsible for publishing NCII. However, bringing a civil action can be incredibly impractical. It is time-consuming, expensive, and may force victims to relive trauma. Further exacerbating the problem, it is not always clear who is responsible for publishing the NCII.  The TAKE IT DOWN Act has received widespread support from over 100 organizations, including victim advocacy groups, law enforcement, and tech industry leaders.  Leaders from both large and small social media platforms, dating apps, and tech organizations, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, and Internet Works, are rallying behind the bipartisan legislation. RAINN (Rape, Abuse & Incest National Network), the nation’s largest anti-sexual violence organization, spearheaded a letter with 23 additional groups calling for the swift passage of this bill. The National Fraternal Order of Police has also sent a letter to Senate leadership endorsing the legislation. In November 2024, the Cyber Civil Rights Initiative, Microsoft, and National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC) sent a letter to Senate and House leadership urging the passage of the TAKE IT DOWN Act.