Sponsors (22)
The bill strengthens victims' ability to remove and seek redress for nonconsensual intimate images and criminalizes AI deepfakes, but it also creates compliance costs, legal uncertainty, and risks of over‑removal and privacy harms for victims and legitimate speakers.
Victims — especially women, young adults, LGBTQ people, and minors — can request removal and have platforms take down nonconsensual intimate images and known identical copies quickly (within 48 hours), reducing spread and immediate harm.
Victims (including minors) gain criminal remedies: the bill criminalizes nonconsensual intimate-image distribution and AI-generated 'digital forgeries', enables restitution and criminal forfeiture of proceeds/devices, increasing accountability and reducing financial incentives for offenders.
The FTC is given explicit enforcement authority and penalties, creating a federal enforcement mechanism to deter platform noncompliance with takedown, notice, and removal obligations.
Platforms, moderators, or users could face criminal exposure because the law criminalizes publication via an 'interactive computer service', creating significant compliance burdens and legal risk for platforms and for third parties.
Journalists, researchers, creators, and everyday users risk lawful speech being chilled because vague standards (intent/harm, 'reasonable expectation of privacy') may push platforms to over-remove borderline or newsworthy content.
Victims (especially minors, young adults, and LGBTQ people) may face privacy and safety risks because takedown requests require written requests with signatures and contact information, potentially exposing identities to offenders and deterring reporting.
Based on analysis of 5 sections of legislative text.
Creates federal crimes for distributing nonconsensual intimate images/deepfakes and requires covered platforms to remove reported content within 48 hours with FTC enforcement.
Creates federal crimes for knowingly publishing nonconsensual intimate images or digital forgeries (deepfakes) over interactive computer services and sets criminal penalties, forfeiture, and restitution. Requires covered online platforms to adopt a notice-and-removal process and remove nonconsensual intimate visual depictions within 48 hours of a valid request, with enforcement by the Federal Trade Commission. Defines key terms (consent, digital forgery, intimate visual depiction, covered platform, minor), protects exceptions for law enforcement, medical and reporting contexts, and includes a severability clause. Platforms get one year after enactment to implement the removal process; criminal and enforcement provisions take effect on enactment.
Official title: Require covered platforms to remove nonconsensual intimate visual depictions, and for other purposes.
Introduced January 16, 2025 by Rafael Edward Cruz · Last progress May 19, 2025