US Law Against Intimate Deepfakes: "Take It Down Act" Enters Force

The US Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has begun strictly enforcing the “Take It Down Act.” After a one-year transition period, online platforms must now delete intimate photos and videos shared without the consent of the individuals involved within 48 hours. This explicitly includes deep fakes, i.e., AI-generated fakes.

Fines and Reporting Portal

The affected tech companies previously had one year to establish appropriate complaint and deletion procedures. Now, upon receiving a valid request, services must remove the reported material and all identical copies within the deadline. Failure to comply with this obligation will result in civil penalties imposed by the FTC. Accordingly, each individual violation can cost companies up to 53,088 US dollars.

To monitor compliance with the law, the agency has set up the reporting portal takeitdown.ftc.gov. Users can report incidents directly there if tech companies fail to delete content promptly or do not offer a corresponding process at all. “Platforms should be prepared to demonstrate compliance and make it easy for people to track the status of their removal requests,” writes the FTC in a statement.

Concerns About Potential Censorship Measures

However, US civil liberties organizations such as the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) sharply criticize the new regulation. The NGO assesses the law as a potential political censorship tool of the Trump administration due to a lack of protective mechanisms for satire or content of public interest. The President himself stated in his State of the Union address last year that he wanted to use the law for himself as well, because no one is treated worse online than he is.

(wpl)