Trump signs TAKE IT DOWN Act, first federal deepfake law
Sponsored by Senators Cruz and Klobuchar and championed publicly by Melania Trump, the law also gives platforms only 48 hours to remove reported images once it takes full effect.
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President Trump signed the TAKE IT DOWN Act, making it a federal crime to knowingly publish or threaten to publish intimate images of a real person without their consent, including images generated or altered by AI, and to publish equivalent nonconsensual images of minors. The bill, introduced by Senators Ted Cruz and Amy Klobuchar, passed both chambers of Congress with broad bipartisan support and was publicly championed by First Lady Melania Trump, who had lobbied members of Congress on its behalf earlier in the year.
Beyond the criminal provisions, the law requires platforms — social networks, image-hosting sites and other covered services — to establish a notice-and-takedown process and remove reported nonconsensual images, including duplicates, within 48 hours of a valid request. That removal obligation does not take effect immediately; platforms have a year from signing to build the required reporting system, meaning enforcement of the takedown mandate begins in May 2026.
Supporters, including victims’ advocates and organisations such as RAINN, described it as the first federal law to directly address AI-generated sexual abuse imagery, closing a gap in which many state laws covered only genuine photographs or did not reach deepfakes. Critics, mainly digital-rights and free-expression groups, warned that the compressed 48-hour window gave platforms little time to verify whether reported content was genuinely illegal before removing it, raising the risk that lawful speech would be taken down to avoid liability. The law left unresolved how heavily that trade-off would fall once the takedown requirement came into force.