US House passes 'revenge porn' ban

Companies will have 2 days to delete posts

- MICHAEL GOLD CECILIA KANG

The US House of Representatives on Monday overwhelmingly passed bipartisan legislation to criminalise the nonconsensual sharing of sexually explicit photos and videos of others — including artificial-intelligence-generated images known as “deepfakes” — and to mandate that platforms quickly remove them.

The vote of 409-2 cleared the measure for President Donald Trump, who was expected to quickly sign it.

The legislation, known as the Take It Down Act, aims to crack down on the sharing of material known as “revenge porn,” requiring that social media companies and online platforms remove such images within two days of being notified of them.

The measure, which brought together an unlikely coalition of conservatives and liberals in both parties, passed the Senate unanimously in February. The support of Trump, who mentioned it during his joint address to Congress last month, appears to have smoothed its path through Congress.

The legislation, introduced by Senators Ted Cruz, R-Texas, and Amy Klobuchar, D-Minnesota, is the first internet content law to clear Congress since 2018, when lawmakers approved legislation to fight online sex trafficking. And although 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.

Ms Klobuchar said she brought the bill to the attention of Trump and first lady Melania Trump while speaking with them at an Inauguration Day lunch.