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The It And though it focuses on revenge porn and deepfakes, the bill is seen as an important step toward regulating internet companies that have for decades escaped government scrutiny.
The Take It Down Act’s overwhelming support highlights mounting anger among lawmakers toward social media platforms like Facebook, Instagram and X for hosting disinformation and harmful content, particularly images that hurt children and teenagers.
Though revenge porn and deepfakes affect adults and minors alike, both have been particularly potent for teenage girls as the spread of widely available “nudification” apps has spurred boys to surreptitiously concoct sexually explicit images of their female classmates and then circulate them.
Representative Maria Elvira Salazar, a Florida Republican who introduced a companion bill in the House, said on Monday that the bill would stop the abuse and harassment of young girls that was “spreading like wildfire” online.
“It is outrageously sick to use images — the face, the voice, the likeness — of a young, vulnerable female, to manipulate them, to extort them and to humiliate them publicly just for fun, just for revenge,” Ms. Salazar said.
The bill’s passage also echoes similar efforts in statehouses across the country. The And at least 20 states have laws that address sexually explicit deepfakes.
The measure that passed on Monday is part of a yearslong bipartisan effort by lawmakers to address deepfake pornography. The It was reintroduced this year and appeared to gain momentum after it drew the support from the first lady, Melania Trump.
Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, a millennial Democrat from New York, also introduced legislation last year that would have allowed those depicted in sexually explicit deepfakes to sue the people who created and shared them. That bill has not been reintroduced this year.
Lawmakers have in recent years rallied around several bills aimed at protecting children online from sexual exploitation, bullying and addictive algorithms. The Bran
