Cruz and Klobuchar Bill Would Ban Publishing Deepfake and Revenge Porn
Bipartisan legislation filed Thursday would make it illegal to publish deepfake pornography and revenge porn. Introduced by Senate Commerce Committee ranking member Ted Cruz, R-Texas, and Sen. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., the bill would require social media platforms to remove nonconsensual,…
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explicit content within 48 hours of a “valid request from a victim.” The FTC would enforce the legislation, the Tools to Address Known Exploitation by Immobilizing Technological Deepfakes on Websites and Networks (Take It Down) Act. The bill has 11 other co-sponsoring senators, including Cynthia Lummis, R-Wyo., and Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn. Lummis told us recently that the bill is a more-targeted approach than Klobuchar’s legislation with Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Dick Durbin, D-Ill., the Disrupt Explicit Forged Images and Non-Consensual Edits (Defiance) Act. On June 12 Lummis blocked Durbin’s effort to pass the Defiance Act by unanimous consent. The Defiance Act, which is co-sponsored by Senate Judiciary Committee ranking member Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., and Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Mo., would establish a right for victims to seek civil damages for harm related to synthetic, nonconsensual deepfake content. Cruz said his bill will empower victims by “putting the responsibility on websites to have in place procedures to remove these images.”