HOUSTON — Sen. Ted Cruz, along with other lawmakers, will hold a press conference Tuesday to highlight the Take It Down Act — a bill aimed at protecting victims of real and deepfake non-consensual pornography.
This is a bipartisan bill, and it comes after a 14-year-old shared her story of discovering that boys used her photos and an AI generator to create fake nude images.
Francesca Mani told Anderson Cooper in a “60 Minutes” special that she found out she was a victim when she was called to the principal’s office over the school’s PA system.
“I was walking through a hallway, and I saw this group of boys laughing at these group of girls crying. And that’s when I realized I should stop crying and be mad because this is unacceptable,” Mani said.
Mani said she knew nothing about nudify websites until she learned she was a victim.
We’re blurring images from the websites used to create these fake photos, but the results look very real.
Lawmakers said there are more than 100 websites capable of creating these images, and they’re disturbingly easy to find online.
The Take It Down Act would:
- Make it a crime to post nude, sexually explicit imagery, including AI-generated photos or videos depicting real people.
- Require websites to remove such content within 48 hours of being notified.
Cruz said some of these images stay up for long periods of time, and this bill would put an obligation on platforms where this is happening.
Several victims have spoken and are speaking at today’s virtual press conference, including a woman from Austin, Texas. Each person shared their story in hopes of raising awareness and pushing for this legislation to pass.
The bill passed the Senate, but lawmakers like Cruz are urging the House to pass the bill before the end of the year.