OAN Staff Abril Elfi
11:59 AM – Tuesday, April 29, 2025
The House has passed First Lady Melania Trump’s-backed bill, which aims to protect Americans from deep fake and revenge pornography.
The prevalence of so-called “deepfake porn” is rising, as deepfake video and photo creators typically accept paid requests for pornography with a buyer’s preferred person and a slew of content that circulate on deepfake websites. Celebrities are the most requested deep fake porn victims. However, average, every day people, women or men, can also become targets as well.
The term “revenge porn” refers to the act of targeting an individual—often a former romantic partner or someone perceived to have caused emotional harm—by digitally superimposing their likeness onto pornographic material. This manipulation, typically done without consent, is intended to shame or humiliate the victim, often resulting in significant emotional and reputational harm.
On Monday, the House of Representatives passed the TAKE IT DOWN Act in a vote of 409-2.
The law, which strengthens protections for victims of non-consensual sharing of sexually explicit pictures or videos, including deep fake porn generated by artificial intelligence (AI), will be sent to President Donald Trump’s desk for his signature.
“The measure generally prohibits the nonconsensual online publication of intimate visual depictions of individuals, both authentic and computer-generated, and requires certain online platforms to promptly remove such depictions upon receiving notice of their existence,” according to the bill summary.
“It specifically prohibits online publication of intimate visual depictions of an adult subject where publication is intended to cause or does cause harm to the subject, and where the depiction was published without the subject’s consent or, in the case of an authentic depiction, was created or obtained under circumstances where the adult had a reasonable expectation of privacy,” as well as “a minor subject where publication is intended to abuse or harass the minor or to arouse or gratify the sexual desire of any person.”
“Violators are subject to mandatory restitution and criminal penalties, including prison, a fine, or both,” according to the bill summary. “Threats to publish intimate visual depictions of a subject are similarly prohibited under the bill and subject to criminal penalties.”
First Lady Melania Trump has adamantly thrown her support behind the campaign, urging House legislators last month to adopt the bill.
“Advancing this legislation has been a key focus since I returned to my role as First Lady this past January,” Melania said in a statement celebrating the bill’s bipartisan passage. “I am honored to have contributed to guiding it through Congress.”
Senator Ted Cruz (R-Texas) and Senator Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.) first introduced the Take It Down Act.
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