Trump signs ‘Take It Down Act’ into law, bans non-consensual sharing of intimate images

U.S. President Donald Trump has officially signed the Take It Down Act into law, making it a federal crime to share intimate images without consent, including those generated by artificial intelligence.

The legislation, which received overwhelming bipartisan support in Congress, targets the growing issue of non-consensual explicit content and mandates that online platforms remove such materials swiftly.

“With the rise of AI-generated imagery, countless women have suffered from deepfakes and explicit content shared without their permission,” President Trump said during the signing ceremony held in the White House Rose Garden. “From today, that ends. Distributing such images without consent is now a federal offense, punishable by up to three years in prison.”

The new law also imposes strict obligations on digital platforms: any failure to remove flagged content within 48 hours of notification could result in civil penalties.

First Lady Melania Trump, who has been a vocal advocate for online safety, joined the president at the event in a rare public appearance. She praised the legislation as a “powerful step forward” to protect vulnerable individuals — especially children and teenagers — from online exploitation.

“This is a national victory,” she said. “It gives families a stronger foundation to safeguard young people against digital abuse.”

The act specifically addresses the surge in deepfakes — digitally altered videos and images that appear convincingly real — which have increasingly been used to target individuals with fake explicit content.

While several states, such as California and Florida, already have laws addressing sexually explicit deepfakes, this federal legislation sets a nationwide standard. However, some civil liberties groups have voiced concerns.

The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF), a digital rights watchdog, warned that the law could be misused by powerful individuals to silence legitimate speech. “This gives the influential a dangerous tool to force platforms to remove lawful content they simply disapprove of,” EFF said in a statement.

The Take It Down Act now compels tech companies and social media platforms to create robust systems for responding to complaints, ensuring the swift removal of non-consensual content to protect victims.