Representative Laurel Lee (R-FL) spoke in favor of the bipartisan Disrupt Explicit Forged Images and Non-Consensual Edits Act (DEFIANCE) at a recent press conference featuring socialite and media personality Paris Hilton.
The bill, introduced with Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY), allows victims of "deepfakes" to take legal action against producers, distributors, and solicitors of these images and videos.
"Deepfakes," as a reminder, are sexually explicit images of a person, often made through artificial intelligence (AI) without the subject's knowledge or consent, as a form of harassment and exploitation.
Thus, the DEFIANCE Act builds upon the 2025 TAKE IT DOWN Act, which criminalizes the publication of deepfakes and requires websites to remove such images as quickly as possible.
As Rep. Lee said at the recent press conference, "Deepfakes are not harmless, and they are not victimless. They are deliberate digital forgeries, often sexual in nature, created to exploit, harass, and humiliate. The technology to make them is becoming more accessible and more widespread, and while the images and the videos may be fake, the harm they cause is very real."
"Victims have seen their reputations destroyed, their careers derailed, their mental health profoundly affected, and for too long, our laws have lagged behind this technology," she continued. "Victims have been left without clear, consistent legal tools when their life is stolen and weaponized without their consent. The DEFIANCE Act closes that gap."
In additional comments to The Floridian, the Florida congresswoman expressed confidence in the bill's success in the House of Representatives, noting that "we are not getting pushback from Big Tech at this point." "I think we have really come to a product that everyone is satisfied with and excited about," she continued. "So I am very hopeful that we will find time in the Judiciary Committee to have it considered."
When asked if she believed the DEFIANCE Act would pass the House unanimously, Lee said, "Unanimous is hard to pull off, but I certainly hope so. It is clearly, strongly bipartisan. You can see just by the members who are here today. So we have a really good shot at strong bipartisan consensus on the floor."
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