The TAKE IT DOWN Act (Tools to Address Known Exploitation by Immobilizing Technological Deepfakes On Websites and Networks Act), enacted as S. 146 in the 119th Congress and codified as Public Law 119-12, is a federal statute signed into law on May 19, 2025, by President Trump. It establishes a federal crime for publishing nonconsensual intimate visual depictions (NCII)—including AI-generated "digital forgeries"—and imposes a 48-hour notice-and-takedown duty on covered platforms, enforced by the Federal Trade Commission. The bill's lead sponsors were Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) and Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-MN) in the Senate, and Rep. Maria Elvira Salazar (R-FL) and Rep. Madeleine Dean (D-PA) in the House.
Summary
The statute operates along two tracks: a criminal prohibition and a platform takedown obligation.
The criminal provision makes it an offense to knowingly publish—or threaten to publish—nonconsensual intimate visual depictions of an identifiable person. The prohibition explicitly covers AI-generated or computer-generated "digital forgeries" that are indistinguishable from real images, not only authentic depictions.
The platform provision imposes a 48-hour notice-and-takedown duty on covered platforms. After receiving a valid victim notice, a platform must remove the flagged content and make reasonable efforts to remove identical copies within 48 hours. Non-compliance with this duty is treated as an unfair or deceptive act under Section 5 of the FTC Act, with FTC enforcement. Covered platforms must have a compliant notice-and-takedown process in place by May 19, 2026.
Scope
The takedown duty applies to consumer-facing platforms that host user-generated content, with carve-outs for internet service providers, email providers, and certain small platforms. The criminal provisions apply to any person, not only to platforms.
Penalties
Criminal penalties run up to 2 years of imprisonment for offenses involving an adult victim and up to 3 years for offenses involving a minor victim, along with fines, restitution, and forfeiture. For platforms, the civil exposure is FTC Act Section 5 penalties.
Key claims and confidence
- High confidence: The law was signed May 19, 2025, by President Trump. The federal criminal offense, the 48-hour takedown duty, and FTC enforcement are core features, and the prohibition applies to both authentic and AI-generated depictions. These points are corroborated across 6+ sources.
- High confidence: There is no private right of action for the takedown duty; the Department of Justice enforces the criminal provisions.
- Medium confidence: The exact contours of the "covered platform" exclusions and the interaction with Section 230 are subject to regulatory interpretation by the FTC. Secondary sources describe the statute's structure but differ on edge cases such as decentralized platforms and encrypted-message services.
The Act is compatible with—and in some respects preempts—a fragmented state-level NCII and deepfake patchwork. No contradictions were found with existing wiki content. It complements state-level election-deepfake statutes (State Deepfake Statutes (MN, WA, TX, CA)), with the federal law targeting sexual deepfakes while states lead on political deepfakes; it interacts with child-safety regulation (California SB 243 — Companion Chatbots); and it adds a federal criminal-law dimension to the evolving federal AI regulatory landscape (US AI Regulatory Approaches Compared). The statute also fills the federal deepfake/NCII gap noted in Missing Coverage: Companies, People, Models, Legislation, Concepts (revised).
Provenance
- Full title: Tools to Address Known Exploitation by Immobilizing Technological Deepfakes On Websites and Networks Act
- Bill number: S. 146 (119th Congress)
- Public Law: 119-12
- Signed: May 19, 2025
- Lead sponsors: Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX), Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-MN); House: Rep. Maria Elvira Salazar (R-FL), Rep. Madeleine Dean (D-PA)
- Primary secondary sources consulted: RAINN, NACO, Latham & Watkins, Skadden, CRS LSB11314, Senate Commerce press release, White House signing release
Relationships
- supports: TAKE IT DOWN Act — Source Summary — the legislation page is built directly on this summary
- related: State Deepfake Statutes (MN, WA, TX, CA) — complementary state-level deepfake laws
- related: California SB 243 — Companion Chatbots — adjacent child-safety AI statute
- related: US AI Regulatory Approaches Compared — adds a federal criminal-law dimension