The House of Representatives is preparing to pass a bill targeting revenge porn, online sextortion and pornographic deepfakes, multiple sources report, following exhortations from America’s first family.
The bipartisan Take It Down Act (H.R. 633) makes it illegal to share, or threaten to share, nude images and videos without consent. It passed the Senate on February 13 in a rare unanimous vote.
First lady Melania Trump joined Speaker of the House Mike Johnson at a Congressional roundtable Monday to support the bill.
“I am here with you today with a common goal — to protect our youth from online harm,” Mrs. Trump began, continuing:
Johnson echoed the first lady, acknowledging “laws need to keep up” with the “unspeakable evils” spawned by the “dark side of tech.”
“We are anxious to put it on the floor in the House, to get it to President Trump’s desk for his signature, because we’ve got to do what we can to stop [nonconsensual sharing of explicit images],” he said.
The president highlighted Melania’s support for the bill in last night’s wide-ranging joint address to congress, calling it “so important.”
“Once it passes the house, I look forward to signing it into law,” he said, thanking Senate Majority Leader John Thune for shepherding it through the Senate.
The House Committee on Energy and Commerce must approve the Take It Down Act before the House can vote on it. Chairman Brett Guthrie said Monday a committee hearing on the bill will occur “very, very soon.”
The Take It Down Act addresses three of the most common ways bad actors weaponize nude images online.
The first, and perhaps most familiar, way people exploit nude photos is “revenge porn” — when explicit images are shared to harm someone mentally, financially or reputationally. It is most closely associated with aggrieved ex-boyfriends leaking once-private, sexual images of former girlfriends.
The Act makes it illegal to publish sexual images that were:
- Created or shared with a reasonable expectation of privacy, like those sent to a romantic partner.
- Shared to cause harm.
Violators would face up to two years in prison for sharing images of an adult, and up to three years for sharing a minor’s.
The same penalties apply to what the Act calls “digital forgeries” — images and videos edited to make it appear as though a person is performing a sexual act. They are more commonly known as deepfakes.
Elliston Berry (15), who attended the joint address to congress with the first lady, is one of the many victims of pornographic deepfakes. When she was just 14 years old, Berry discovered a peer edited one of her Instagram posts to make it look like she was posing nude.
Berry told Monday’s congressional roundtable how the violation affected her life:
The Take It Down Act imposes the same penalties on people who share deepfakes as on those who share real photos, consistent with the real damage doctored images do to victims like Berry.
Threatening to leak explicit photos can be just as harmful as actually exposing them. Since 2021, at least 20 teenage boys have reportedly committed suicide after falling victim to sextortion.
Online sextortionists create fake social media accounts to convince users to strike up a romantic exchange of nude images. Once they get their hands on a someone’s explicit photos, the scammers ask for money in exchange for keeping the images quiet.
In 2022, Gavin Guffey, a 17-year-old from South Carolina, ended his life less than two hours after being contacted by a sextortionist. His dad, Representative Brandon Guffy (SC), is one of the bill’s biggest supporters. He described his experience in an article for The Hill.
Under the Take It Down Act, sextortionists would face up to 18 months in prison for targeting an adult, and up to 30 months for targeting minors like Gavin.
H.R. 633 would also require websites and social media companies to remove explicit images within 48 hours of a victim’s request.
Representative Maria Salazar (FL), who sponsored the bill in the House, said of this provision:
The internet is not a safe place for kids. At the very least, the Take It Down Act demonstrates Congress’ desire to help parents protect their kids from exploitation.
That’s something to celebrate.
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