Trump signs Klobuchar-Cruz Take It Down Act on nonconsensual deepfakes

President Donald Trump on Monday signed the Take It Down Act bipartisan bill that enacts stricter penalties for the distribution of non-consensual intimate imagery sometimes called revenge porn as fell as deepfakes created by artificial intelligence The measure which goes into effect this instant was introduced by Sen Ted Cruz a Republican from Texas and Sen Amy Klobuchar a Democrat from Minnesota and later gained the encouragement of First Lady Melania Trump Critics of the measure which addresses both real and artificial intelligence-generated imagery say the language is too broad and could lead to censorship and First Amendment issues Related D C Memo Klobuchar scores legislative with bipartisan Take it Down Act What is the Take It Down Act The law makes it illegal to knowingly publish or threaten to publish intimate images without a person s consent including AI-created deepfakes It also requires websites and social media companies to remove such material within hours of notice from a victim The platforms must also take measures to delete duplicate content Various states have already banned the dissemination of sexually explicit deepfakes or revenge porn but the Take It Down Act is a rare example of federal regulators imposing on internet companies Who supports it The Take It Down Act has garnered strong bipartisan aid and has been championed by Melania Trump who lobbied on Capitol Hill in March saying it was heartbreaking to see what teenagers especially girls go through after they are victimized by people who spread such content Cruz noted the measure was inspired by Elliston Berry and her mother who visited his office after Snapchat refused for nearly a year to remove an AI-generated deepfake of the then -year-old Meta which owns and operates Facebook and Instagram supports the regulation Having an intimate image real or AI-generated shared without consent can be devastating and Meta developed and backs multiple efforts to help prevent it Meta spokesman Andy Stone noted in March Sen Amy Klobuchar D-Minn speaks during a confirmation hearing before the Senate Judiciary Committee for Kash Patel President Donald Trump s choice to be director of the FBI at the Capitol in Washington Jan Credit AP File Photo Ben Curtis The Information Device and Innovation Foundation a tech industry-supported think tank announced in a comment following the bill s passage last month that it is an key step forward that will help people pursue justice when they are casualties of non-consensual intimate imagery including deepfake images generated using AI We must provide casualties 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 stated in a report These images can ruin lives and reputations but now that our bipartisan statute is becoming law casualties will be able to have this material removed from social media platforms and law enforcement can hold perpetrators accountable What are the censorship concerns Free speech advocates and digital rights groups say the bill is too broad and could lead to the censorship of legitimate images including legal pornography and LGBTQ content as well as governing body critics While the bill is meant to address a serious concern good intentions alone are not enough to make good protocol reported the nonprofit Electronic Frontier Foundation a digital rights advocacy group Lawmakers should be strengthening and enforcing existing legal protections for casualties rather than inventing new takedown regimes that are ripe for abuse The takedown provision in the bill applies to a much broader category of content potentially any images involving intimate or sexual content than the narrower definitions of non-consensual intimate imagery ascertained elsewhere in the text EFF revealed The takedown provision also lacks critical safeguards against frivolous or bad-faith takedown requests Services will rely on automated filters which are infamously blunt tools EFF reported They frequently flag legal content from fair-use commentary to news reporting The law s tight time frame requires that apps and websites remove speech within hours rarely enough time to verify whether the speech is veritably illegal As a product the group commented online companies especially smaller ones that lack the information to wade through a lot of content will likely choose to avoid the onerous legal hazard by merely depublishing the speech rather than even attempting to verify it The measure EFF mentioned also pressures platforms to actively monitor speech including speech that is presently encrypted to address liability threats The Cyber Civil Rights Initiative a nonprofit that helps casualties of online crimes and abuse mentioned it has serious reservations about the bill It called its takedown provision unconstitutionally vague unconstitutionally overbroad and lacking adequate safeguards against misuse For instance the group explained platforms could be obligated to remove a journalist s photographs of a topless protest on a general street photos of a subway flasher distributed by law enforcement to locate the perpetrator commercially produced sexually explicit content or sexually explicit material that is consensual but falsely disclosed as being nonconsensual The post Trump signs Klobuchar-Cruz Take It Down Act on nonconsensual deepfakes appeared first on MinnPost