Salazar Celebrates Senate Passing TAKE IT DOWN Act

The U.S. Senate passed the companion version of Florida Rep. María Elvira Salazar’s (R) TAKE IT DOWN Act.

The bill protects victims of real and deepfake “revenge pornography,” which is a crime that has increasingly and rapidly affected the nation’s youth. Texas Senator Ted Cruz (R), who spearheaded the bill in the senate, released a video on social media wherein he shares the news with two victims.

Non-consensual intimate imagery (NCII), more commonly known as “revenge pornography,” has been exacerbated with the rise of Artificial Intelligence (AI). Because of this, lawmakers decided that legal protections were necessary to empower and protect victims.

As such, the TAKE IT DOWN Act will criminalize the publication of harmful images, and it requires websites to quickly remove said images.

“By voting for the TAKE IT DOWN Act, the Senate took a stand to protect women and girls victimized by bad actors stealing their likenesses to create fake revenge porn,” Rep. Salazar said in a statement.

Senator Cruz also weighed in on the issue, explaining that “over the past several months, courageous victims of AI-deepfake ‘revenge porn’ have shared their stories to raise awareness and inform lawmakers’ efforts to stop this despicable behavior.” Aside from offering protection to victims of NCII, Senator Cruz added that the bill “will also hold Big Tech accountable by making sure websites remove these disgusting fake videos and pictures immediately,” adding that “for young victims and their parents, these deepfakes are a matter requiring urgent attention and protection in law.”

Both Rep. Salazar and Senator Cruz remain committed to fighting NCII, and both have been critical of AI’s acceleration in the past.

In September, Rep. Salazar introduced the Nurture Originals, Foster Art, and Keep Entertainment Safe (NO FAKES) Act, which protects the voice and likeness of all individuals from unauthorized, computer-generated recreations from AI and any other technologies.