Trump Signs ‘Take It Down Act’, Making It Illegal To Circulate Non-Consensual Explicit Pictures
US President Donald Trump signed the Take It Down Act into law, a landmark legislation championed by US First Lady Melania Trump.
In addition to making it to illegal to share online nonconsensual, explicit images — real or computer-generated — the law also requires tech platforms to remove such images within 48 hours of being notified about them, CNN reported.
“In the Rose Garden today, President Donald J. Trump signed the Take It Down Act into law–landmark legislation championed by First Lady Melania Trump. WE MUST PROTECT OUR CHILDREN!”
“Today, through the ‘TAKE IT DOWN’ Act, we affirm that the well-being of our children is central to the future of our families and America. I am proud to say that the values of BE BEST will be reflected in the law of the land.” – FLOTUS
In recent years, people ranging from Taylor Swift and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez to high school girls around the country have been victims of non-consensual, explicit deepfakes — images where a person’s face is superimposed on a nude body using artificial intelligence.
The law will boost protections for victims of revenge porn and nonconsensual, AI-generated sexual images, increase accountability for the tech platforms where the content is shared and provide law enforcement with clarity about how to prosecute such activity. Previously, federal law prohibited creating or sharing realistic, AI-generated explicit images of children. But laws protecting adult victims varied by state and didn’t exist nationwide, as per CNN.
The Take It Down Act also represents one of the first new US federal laws aimed at addressing the potential harms from AI-generated content as the technology rapidly advances.
“AI is new to a lot of us and so I think we’re still figuring out what is helpful to society, what is harmful to society, but (non-consensual) intimate deepfakes are such a clear harm with no benefit,” CNN quoted Ilana Beller as saying, who is organizing manager at progressive advocacy group Public Citizen, which endorsed the legislation. (ANI)
