Pornography & obscenity

House Passes Bill to Make Revenge Porn Illegal

APR 29 2025·Updated APR 30 2025

Story

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 credit: Kayla Bartkowski/Staff/Getty Images News via Getty Images

The Facts

The U.S. House voted 409-2 Monday to pass the TAKE IT DOWN Act — a bipartisan bill that criminalizes the nonconsensual sharing of sexually explicit images, including AI-generated deepfakes — sending the legislation to President Donald Trump's desk for approval.
U.S. Senator Amy Klobuchar
Foxnews
CNN
The legislation, introduced by Senator Ted Cruz (R-Texas) and supported by Senator Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.), Rep. Maria Elvira Salazar (R-Fla.), and Rep. Madeleine Dean (D-Penn.), requires social media platforms and websites to remove such content within 48 hours of being notified by victims.
U.S. Senator Amy Klobuchar
Representative Maria Salazar
First Lady Melania Trump has advocated for the bill, which carries penalties of "prison, a fine, or both."
Foxnews
NPR
The bill defines nonconsensual intimate imagery (NCII) as both authentic and computer-generated pornographic images and videos that depict identifiable, real people, clarifying that a victim consenting to the creation of an image doesn't mean they've agreed to its publication.
Foxnews
U.S. Senator Amy Klobuchar
During a joint session of Congress in March, Trump said he "look[s] forward to signing" the bill, adding he would use it for himself "because nobody gets treated worse than I do online."
The Hill
Breitbart
Some U.S. States, including California and Florida, have already passed laws criminalizing the publication of sexually explicit deepfakes as well as AI-generated political advertisements.
StateScoop
Tech Policy Press

Sources Split

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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.

Electronic Frontier Foundation

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.

Time

New York Post

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.