By India McCarty
The TAKE IT DOWN Act has officially passed through the House and Senate and is on its way to President Donald Trump’s desk.
“We commend the U.S. House for passing the TAKE IT DOWN Act and for recognizing the harms victims of image-based sexual abuse face when sexually explicit images are shared online without consent,” Eleanor K. Gaetan, the Director of Public Policy at the National Center on Sexual Exploitation, said in a statement.
Gaetan called the bill’s passage “a victory for survivors of this criminality,” adding, “It will ultimately prevent mass-scale sexual abuse and reshape the online ecosystem to better prioritize combatting image-based sexual abuse.”
She also thanked First Lady Melania Trump, as well as Senators Ted Cruz and Amy Klobuchar, for their support of the TAKE IT DOWN Act.
The bill makes it illegal to “knowingly publish” or threaten to publish sexually explicit or otherwise intimate images without someone’s consent, including those made through AI “deepfake” technology. It also mandates that these images be removed from the platform they were posted on within 48 hours.
“We must provide victims of online abuse with the legal protections they need when intimate images are shared without their consent, especially now that deepfakes are creating horrifying new opportunities for abuse,” Klobuchar said in a statement after the bill was passed. “These images can ruin lives and reputations, but now that our bipartisan legislation is becoming law, victims will be able to have this material removed from social media platforms and law enforcement can hold perpetrators accountable.”
Cruz also celebrated the TAKE IT DOWN Act’s passage, calling it a “historic win in the fight to protect victims of revenge porn and deepfake abuse” in a statement on his website.
“By requiring social media companies to take down this abusive content quickly, we are sparing victims from repeated trauma and holding predators accountable,” he continued.
My bill, the bipartisan TAKE IT DOWN Act, just passed the House with near-unanimous consensus.
This landmark legislation will be sent to President Trump’s desk to be signed into law.
Related: This Bill Would Criminalize Sharing Explicit Images Online
The TAKE IT DOWN Act protects all Americans from AI-generated nonconsensual imagery and… pic.twitter.com/Gxl5cx8is9
— Senator Ted Cruz (@SenTedCruz) April 29, 2025
The First Lady released a statement about the bill’s passage as well, saying, “Today’s bipartisan passage of the TAKE IT DOWN Act is a powerful statement that we stand united in protecting the dignity, privacy, and safety of our children. I am thankful to the Members of Congress — both in the House and Senate — who voted to protect the well-being of our youth.”
The TAKE IT DOWN Act is now making its way to the President’s desk, where it is expected to be signed into law. Supporters of the bill, as well as those concerned with the widespread effects of AI and deepfake pornography, are glad to see protections being put in place for victims of this technology.
Read Next: Melania Trump Lobbies for Bill to Ban Revenge Porn and AI Deepfakes
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