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Here’s Why the Bipartisan Deepfake ‘Revenge Porn’ Bill Trump Signed Is Stirring Controversy
In response to President Trump signing the Take It Down Act, one feminist organization says it’s “meeting this moment with concern and caution.”
In DepthPolitics
Now over 100 days into his second term, President Trump has signed among the fewest bills of any president. But on Monday, Trump signed the bipartisan Take It Down Act, which criminalizes distribution of nonconsensual intimate imagery including as AI-generated, deepfake “revenge porn.” The new law renders distribution of this material a federal crime punishable with prison time; it also requires online platforms to establish request-and-removal systems to allow victims to have such photos taken down within 48 hours. The legislation comes at a crucial moment, as AI-based, cyber sexual harassment is rapidly on the rise, and previously, no federal laws addressed this crisis. Yet, the Take It Down Act has been met with fairly mixed reception.
“Take It Down’s success rests entirely on the shoulders of survivors,” Jenna Sherman, campaign director at the feminist organization UltraViolet, told Jezebel. “Survivors wrote the bill, championed the bill, and created the conditions for the bill’s passing. For that reason, UltraViolet is first and foremost meeting this moment with gratitude, pride, and celebration.” Sherman also celebrated that the bill “sets a precedent for the legal system moving quicker to keep pace with technology, especially when it comes to abuse.” But still, Sherman says her organization “is simultaneously meeting this moment with concern and caution.”
The new legislation could also “be used as a weapon for the MAGA regime, and any future administrations that abuse powers,” she said. “What’s more, we are concerned about selective interpretation of this law—it’s not lost on us that some of the tech industry’s biggest offenders of platforming and even profiting off non-consensual sexual deepfakes include some of Trump’s current closest allies.” Further, Sherman raised that “the law’s lack of adequate safeguards against false reporting could expose users to censorship of content that platform CEOs or politicians simply don’t like.”
To Sherman’s point, when President Trump signed the bill, he explicitly said, “I’m going to use that bill for myself, too, if you don’t mind, because nobody gets treated worse than I do online. Nobody.” Earlier this week, the 19th noted that Trump is notorious for his sweeping attacks on free speech and threats to his critics, creating concern “that the bill could be used to remove critical political speech, especially in the context of a wider crackdown by the current administration.” Trump’s statement “demonstrates the risk of political leaders using this bill for greater power and control rather than for protecting survivors,” Sherman said. In a similar vein, laws like the Kids Online Safety Act (KOSA)—another bipartisan bill—similarly claim to address unsafe, obscene material online for the protection of children. But advocates warn this bill will more likely be used to censor information and resources about LGBTQ identity and abortion access.
Trump’s invocation of survivors to push his own agenda—all while being, himself, a legally recognized sexual assailant and serially accused rapist—is entirely in line with the rest of his agenda, sexual violence researcher Dr. Nicole Bedera told Jezebel. This, after all, is the same president whose horrific campaigns against trans people and immigrants are both premised around the bigoted narrative that he’s protecting cis women and girls. “Trump using sexual abuse survivors to justify attacking his enemies—that’s what he does all the time,” Bedera said.