Bill criminalizing deepfake revenge porn passes House, heads to Trump's desk

The Take It Down Act, a measure that would criminalize the publication of nonconsensual sexually explicit deepfakes, passed the House on Monday and now heads to President Trump's desk.

The measure cleared the House in an overwhelming 409-2 vote, with 22 members not voting. Reps. Thomas Massie (R-Ky.) and Eric Burilson (R-Mo.) were the sole "no" votes.

The bill would make it a federal crime to knowingly post or threaten to publish realistic, computer-generated pornographic images and videos that attempt to show identifiable, real people on social media and elsewhere online.

Trump indicated last month he plans to sign the bill.

"The Senate just passed the Take It Down Act. Once it passes the House, I look forward to signing that bill into law," Trump told a joint session of Congress in early March. "And 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."

First lady Melania Trump also came out in support of the bill, attending a roundtable on the measure last month.

She was quick to applaud the passage on Monday evening.

“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," the first lady wrote in a statement.

The measure was sponsored by Senate Commerce Chair Ted Cruz (R-Texas) and Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.) in the upper chamber, while Reps. Elvira Salazar (R-Fla.) and Madeline Dean (D-Pa.) were the co-leads on the House version.

Cruz celebrated the bill's passage on Monday, calling it a "historic win in the fight to protect victims of revenge porn and deepfake abuse."

"By requiring social media companies to take down this abusive content quickly, we are sparing victims from repeated trauma and holding predators accountable," he wrote in a statement.

Massie explained his "no" vote on X writing, "I’m voting NO because I feel this is a slippery slope, ripe for abuse, with unintended consequences."

The bill marks the first youth online safety bill to pass Congress this session, handing some lawmakers a win after failing to pass most related legislation last year.

Tech safety groups and families have led lobbying efforts for years to pass legislation like the Take It Down Act, with hopes of holding technology companies accountable for social media harms, specifically on young children.

Among the bills being pushed by many online safety groups is the Kids Online Safety Act (KOSA), which would create regulations for the kinds of features tech and social media companies offer kids online.

KOSA passed the Senate in a 91-3 vote last session but did not make it to the House floor amid concerns from GOP leadership that it would stifle free speech. 

While some lawmakers have expressed concerns Trump would side with technology companies due to his newfound connections with some Big Tech leaders, Cruz told The Hill last month he does not anticipate that being the case.

“Every conversation I’ve had with the Trump administration on this topic has evidenced a commitment to protecting free speech and ending Big Tech censorship,” he said, pointing to the president and first lady's support of the Take It Down Act.

Some tech policy groups, including Americans for Responsible Innovation (ARI), an AI advocacy group, celebrated the bill's passage.

“For the first time in years, Congress is passing legislation to protect vulnerable communities online and requiring tech giants to clean up their act,” ARI President Brad Carson said. “This bill is going to make a difference in the lives of victims and prevent another generation from being targeted with non-consensual intimate deepfakes."

Meanwhile, others in the policy space worry the Take It Down Act will end up stifling speech.

"The TAKE IT DOWN Act is a missed opportunity for Congress to meaningfully help victims of nonconsensual intimate imagery," said Becca Branum, the deputy director of the Center for Democracy and Technology's Free Expression Project.

"The best of intentions can't make up for the bill's dangerous implications for constitutional speech and privacy online," she said Monday. "The Take It Down Act, while well-intentioned, was written without appropriate safeguards to prevent the mandated removal of content that is not nonconsensual intimate imagery, making it vulnerable to constitutional challenge and abusive takedown requests."