Senate Unanimously Passes Bipartisan Klobuchar, Cruz Bill to Protect Online Privacy and Combat Explicit Deepfakes

The TAKE IT DOWN Act criminalizes the nonconsensual publication of explicit images, real and AI-generated, and requires websites to remove them
WASHINGTON – Senators Amy Klobuchar (D-MN) and Ted Cruz (R-TX) announced that their bipartisan legislation, the
TAKE IT DOWN Act
, passed the Senate unanimously. This bill would criminalize the publication of non-consensual intimate imagery (NCII), including AI-generated NCII, and require social media and similar websites to have in place procedures to remove such content within 48 hours of notice from a victim.
“We must provide victims of online abuse with the legal protections they need when intimate images are shared without their consent, especially now that deepfakes are creating horrifying new opportunities for abuse,”
said Senator Klobuchar.
“Passing this bipartisan legislation builds on my work to ensure that victims can have this material removed from social media platforms and law enforcement can hold perpetrators accountable. The House should pass this bill and the President should sign it into law as soon as possible to protect victims of online abuse.”
“The TAKE IT DOWN Act gives victims of revenge and deepfake pornography—many of whom are young girls—the ability to fight back. Under our bipartisan bill, those who knowingly spread this vile material will face criminal charges, and Big Tech companies must remove exploitative content without delay. As we worked on the TAKE IT DOWN Act, more victims courageously came forward to share their stories to help end this horrific online abuse. Now, it’s up to the House to pass the TAKE IT DOWN Act and give victims the power to reclaim their privacy and dignity,”
said Senator Cruz.
The TAKE IT DOWN Act would protect and empower victims of real and deepfake NCII while respecting speech by:
Criminalizing the publication of NCII in interstate commerce. The bill makes it unlawful for a person to knowingly publish, or threaten to publish, NCII on social media and other online platforms. NCII is defined to include realistic, computer-generated pornographic images and videos that depict identifiable, real people. The bill also clarifies that a victim consenting to the creation of an authentic image does not mean that the victim has consented to its publication.
Protecting good faith efforts to assist victims. The bill permits the good faith disclosure of NCII, such as to law enforcement, in narrow cases.
Requiring websites to take down NCII upon notice from the victim. Social media and other websites would be required to have in place procedures to remove NCII, pursuant to a valid request from a victim, within 48 hours. Websites must also make reasonable efforts to remove copies of the images. The FTC is charged with enforcement of this section.
Protecting lawful speech. The bill is narrowly tailored to criminalize knowingly publishing NCII without chilling lawful speech. The bill conforms to current First Amendment jurisprudence by requiring that computer-generated NCII meet a “reasonable person” test for appearing indistinguishable from an authentic image.
The legislation is co-sponsored by Sens. Cory Booker (D-NJ), Shelley Moore Capito (R-WV), Richard Blumenthal (D-CT), Bill Cassidy (R-LA), John Barrasso (R-WY), Jacky Rosen (D-NV), Cynthia Lummis (R-WY), John Hickenlooper (D-CO), Ted Budd (R-NC), Marsha Blackburn (R-TN), Roger Wicker (R-MS), Todd Young (R-IN), John Curtis (R-UT), Tim Sheehy (R-MT), Raphael Warnock (D-GA), Martin Heinrich (D-NM), Gary Peters (D-MI), Adam Schiff (D-CA), Catherine Cortez Masto (D-NV), and Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH).
Reps. Maria Elvira Salazar (R-FL) and Madeleine Dean (D-PA) have
introduced
companion legislation in the House.
In July 2024, Klobuchar’s and Sen. John Cornyn's (R-TX)
Stopping Harmful Image Exploitation and Limiting Distribution (SHIELD) Act
passed
the Senate. It would address the online exploitation of explicit, private images.
In 2024, at a Senate Judiciary Committee
hearing
titled “Big Tech and the Online Child Sexual Exploitation Crisis,” Senator Klobuchar was part of a hearing that questioned the CEO of Discord Inc., Jason Citron, the CEO of TikTok Inc., Shou Chew, the Co-founder and CEO of Snap Inc., Evan Spiegel, the CEO of X (formerly Twitter), Linda Yaccarino, and the Founder and CEO of Meta (formerly Facebook), Mark Zuckerberg, about their companies turning a blind eye when young children joined their platforms, the risk of sexual exploitation, using algorithms that push harmful content, and providing a venue for drug traffickers to sell deadly narcotics like fentanyl.
In 2017, Klobuchar and former Senators Richard Burr (R-NC) and Kamala Harris (D-CA),
introduced
the first version of this legislation, the bipartisan
Ending Nonconsensual Online User Graphic Harassment (ENOUGH) Act.
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