Congress Passes TAKE IT DOWN Act Despite Major Flaws
Electronic Frontier FoundationMAY 8
House Passes Bill to Make Revenge Porn Illegal
Above: Melania Trump and Ted Cruz during a roundtable discussion on the "Take It Down Act" at the U.S. Capitol on March 3, 2025. Image copyright: Kayla Bartkowski/Staff/Getty Images News via Getty Images
The Spin
Establishment-critical narrative
While Congress may frame this as a measure to protect vulnerable women, the legislation is a Trojan horse that ultimately gives the government power to censor speech, not just illegal porn. Laws against nonconsensual content exist, and Congress should strengthen those instead of adding new restrictive powers to its arsenal.
Pro-establishment narrative
The bill isn't some abstract, power-grabbing piece of legislation — it was formulated in response to two young girls' experiences with deep-fake porn, and the countless other people whose lives were ruined by this technology. The dangers of nonconsensual porn are widespread, which is why this bill was a bipartisan effort receiving almost unanimous support.
Cynical narrative
While it's important to critique questionable online content legislation, this issue also exposes broader bipartisan failures on issues like the legal porn industry and its links to sex trafficking. Despite years of knowing about these links, not to mention porn's other consequences like addiction and physical and mental health effects, politicians, notably Republicans, have done little to prioritize children over companies and criminals.