US President Donald Trump signed a bill on Monday making it a federal crime to post “revenge porn” — whether it is real or generated by artificial intelligence.
The “Take It Down Act,” passed with overwhelming bipartisan congressional support, criminalizes non-consensual publication of intimate images, while also mandating their removal from online platforms.
“With the rise of AI image generation, countless women have been harassed with deepfakes and other explicit images distributed against their will,” Trump said at a signing ceremony in the Rose Garden of the White House.
“And today we’re making it totally illegal,” the president said. “Anyone who intentionally distributes explicit images without the subject’s consent will face up to three years in prison.”
Deepfakes often rely on artificial intelligence and other tools to create realistic-looking fake videos.
They can be used to create falsified pornographic images of real women, which are then published without their consent and proliferate.
Some US states, including California and Florida, have laws criminalizing the publication of sexually explicit deepfakes, but critics have voiced concerns the “Take It Down Act” grants the authorities increased censorship power.
