On May 19, 2025, the legislative bill S.146, also known as the “Take it Down” Act, was officially signed into law in the wake of overwhelming bipartisan support. The bill’s main purpose is to “prohibit the nonconsensual online publication of intimate visual depictions of individuals, both authentic and computer-generated,” essentially criminalizing the sharing of deepfakes, AI-generated images, and similar forms of harmful content.
But how does the passing of the Take it Down Act specifically benefit survivors of domestic abuse and intimate partner violence? In this blog post, we’ll review the specifics of the Take it Down Act and the ways in which the new legislation empowers survivors to protect themselves from their abusers.
Modern Forms of Abuse Require Modern Protections
The rise of technological phenomenon such as “deepfakes” (i.e. computer-generated media which is meant to look authentic) and images/videos created through generative AI such as ChatGPT has sadly widened the scope of potential abuse a domestic violence survivor must contend with. Images and videos created by an abusive partner or ex-partner without the survivor’s consent can be used to potentially threaten, blackmail, harass, and exploit the survivor. In many cases, these nonconsensual images and videos are sexual in nature, further compounding the potential trauma the survivor can endure if they’re published online.
The passing of the Take it Down Act thankfully gives survivors some teeth in their fight to have such images swiftly reported and taken down. Not only does the new law make it a federal crime to publish nonconsensual intimate imagery using an interactive computer service, it also establishes a rapid takedown process for nonconsensual media that’s already been published. Any online media that’s reported as harmful and which fits within the Take it Down Act’s parameters must be removed within 48 hours of the report being filed.
Understanding the Pros and Cons
As The National Network to End Domestic Violence covered in their own Safety Net Blog recap of the Take it Down Act, the new legislation isn’t without its potential downsides. The tight 48-hour window of having harmful content removed could cause some platforms to prioritize speed over accuracy, prompting bad-faith actors to simply flag any content they don’t like as harmful regardless of whether their claims are true. The specific language used in the legislation also sadly leaves room open for potential loopholes, specifically for sites and services that only “curate” content rather than hosting it directly (which include many well-known deepfake and revenge porn sites).
These potential shortcomings and loopholes make it all the more vital to properly educate those with an online presence on their rights when it comes to the sharing of nonconsensual media. This is especially true for those who routinely utilize social media (whether personally or as part of their job), and for teenagers who will likely encounter nonconsensual sexual images as a form of teen dating violence.
Whatever work we can do to both educate and support those targeted by nonconsensual media sharing, and champion legislation which provides clearer, more trauma-informed safeguards for survivors, will only become more important as technology continues to advance. If any additional legislation comes up as a result of the Take it Down Act’s successful passage, we here at REACH will continue to report on how it affects domestic violence survivors in both the short and long term.
For more information on the Take it Down Act, you can read this press release from the National Domestic Violence Hotline.
