House Passes Bill to Ban Sharing of Revenge Porn, Sending It to Trump
The Take It Down Act, which united a coalition of conservative and liberal lawmakers, criminalizes the nonconsensual sharing of sexually explicit images of others and requires companies to remove them.
The Take It Down Act, which united a coalition of conservative and liberal lawmakers, criminalizes the nonconsensual sharing of sexually explicit images of others and requires companies to remove them.
The House on Monday overwhelmingly passed bipartisan legislation to criminalize the nonconsensual sharing of sexually explicit photos and videos of others — including A.I.-generated images known as “deepfakes” — and to mandate that platforms quickly remove them.
The vote of 409 to 2 cleared the measure for President Trump, who was expected to quickly sign it.
The legislation, known as the Take It Down Act, aims to crack down on the sharing of material known as “revenge porn,” requiring that social media companies and online platforms remove such images within two days of being notified of them.
The measure, which brought together an unlikely coalition of conservatives and liberals in both parties, passed the Senate unanimously in February. The support of Mr. Trump, who mentioned it during his joint address to Congress last month, appears to have smoothed its path through Congress.
The legislation, introduced by Senators Ted Cruz, Republican of Texas, and Amy Klobuchar, Democrat of Minnesota, is the first internet content law to clear Congress since 2018, when lawmakers approved legislation to fight online sex trafficking. And though it focuses on revenge porn and deepfakes, the bill is seen as an important step toward regulating internet companies that have for decades escaped government scrutiny.
Ms. Klobuchar said she brought the bill to the attention of Mr. Trump and the first lady, Melania Trump, while speaking with them at an inauguration-day lunch.
The senator said she was moved by the stories of families whose children had experienced harassment, bullying or mental and emotional harm because of these images.
