TAKE IT DOWN Act
In plain wordsA 2025 US federal law that forces websites to remove intimate images of a person posted without consent, including AI-made fakes, within 48 hours of the victim's request, and makes posting them a crime.
A US federal statute, signed on May 19, 2025, on non-consensual intimate imagery (NCII), including 'digital forgeries': synthetic or doctored intimate images of a real, identifiable person that would look genuine to a reasonable viewer, whether produced with AI or other software. It makes it a federal crime knowingly to publish such imagery, real or synthetic, of adults without consent in specified harmful circumstances, or of minors, and to threaten to do so. Covered online platforms that host user content had one year, until May 19, 2026, to establish a notice-and-removal process that takes down reported imagery, and known identical copies, within 48 hours of a valid request; the Federal Trade Commission enforces this duty as an unfair or deceptive practice. Free-expression and digital-rights groups warned that the takedown system lacks safeguards against false or abusive requests and could pressure encrypted services.
The platform built a 48-hour removal queue to comply with the TAKE IT DOWN Act.
Origin
Introduced by Senators Ted Cruz and Amy Klobuchar in 2024 and reintroduced in January 2025; it passed the Senate by unanimous consent in February 2025 and the House 409–2 in April 2025, with public support from First Lady Melania Trump, and was signed by President Donald Trump on May 19, 2025.
Usage note
The acronym is a backronym. The law addresses intimate imagery only; broader deepfakedeepfake, n.: A fake but realistic video, photo or voice recording made with AI that puts words in a real person's mouth or shows them in a scene that never happened. and digital replicadigital replica, n.: A realistic computer-made copy of a real person's voice or appearance — such as an AI clone of a singer's voice or a digital stand-in for an actor — that can say or do things the person never did. harms are left to state law and pending federal bills.
Related
- deepfakedeepfake, n.: A fake but realistic video, photo or voice recording made with AI that puts words in a real person's mouth or shows them in a scene that never happened.
- synthetic mediasynthetic media, n.: Images, video, audio or text created or substantially altered by AI rather than recorded or written directly by people, whether for art, entertainment, business or deception.
- digital replicadigital replica, n.: A realistic computer-made copy of a real person's voice or appearance — such as an AI clone of a singer's voice or a digital stand-in for an actor — that can say or do things the person never did.
- AI-generated content labelingAI-generated content labeling, n.: Marking text, images, audio or video as made by AI — with a visible notice, hidden data in the file, or both — so that people and platforms can tell synthetic content from real.
- Content CredentialsContent Credentials, prop. n.: A tamper-evident 'nutrition label' attached to a photo, video or document recording where it came from — which camera or AI tool made it and how it was edited — that anyone can inspect.
Defined in law or standards
TAKE IT DOWN Act, Pub. L. No. 119-12 (2025)
Mentioned in
deepfakedeepfake, n.: A fake but realistic video, photo or voice recording made with AI that puts words in a real person's mouth or shows them in a scene that never happened., non-consensual intimate imagerynon-consensual intimate imagery, n.: Sexual or nude images of a real person that are shared, or made, without their consent — including fakes created with AI that show someone undressed or in sexual scenes., digital replicadigital replica, n.: A realistic computer-made copy of a real person's voice or appearance — such as an AI clone of a singer's voice or a digital stand-in for an actor — that can say or do things the person never did., NO FAKES ActNO FAKES Act, prop. n.: A proposed US law that would let people control AI-made copies of their voice and face, and would require websites to take down unauthorized fakes once notified., nudification appnudification app, n.: An app or AI tool that takes an ordinary photo of a real person and fakes a nude or sexual image of them, almost always without their consent., Section 230Section 230, prop. n.: A 1996 US law that generally protects websites and apps from being sued over what their users post, and lets them remove content in good faith. Whether it protects what AI chatbots themselves say is unsettled.