Photo: The White House
NCMEC and other advocates, including survivors of digital forgery exploitation and harassment, supported the TAKE IT DOWN Act (short for "Tools to Address Known Exploitation by Immobilizing Technological Deepfakes on Websites and Networks" Act) in the U.S. Congress, which passed the bill on April 28, 2025. On May 19, 2025, the President signed the act into law, bringing into effect several important provisions for minors.
The Act criminalizes knowingly publishing actual and digital forgery intimate visual depictions of a minor to abuse, humiliate, harass, or degrade the minor or to arouse or gratify the sexual desire of another person. The act also criminalizes intentional threats to publish such imagery to intimidate, coerce, extort, or create mental distress in the minor.
These new prohibitions target conduct that is commonly involved in a variety of offenses, including online bullying/harassment, enticement, and sextortion.
While U.S. law already criminalized child sexual abuse material (CSAM), some intimate imagery that did not meet the legal definition of CSAM had been left unaddressed. The TAKE IT DOWN Act closes that gap and—after allowing up to one year to develop necessary systems—will require online platforms to remove such imagery within 48 hours of receiving a valid request from a victim or victim's representative.
An online platform subject to the TAKE IT DOWN Act—including all U.S.-based online platforms—is obligated to remove imagery in response to a valid request, regardless of where the requesting person is or who published the unlawful material. In this way, the TAKE IT DOWN Act offers a measure of protection to children everywhere.
This report-and-remove requirement is important to empowering victims and compelling online platforms to remove harmful content. The TAKE IT DOWN Act is also one of the first U.S. laws to specifically address harms associated with generative artificial intelligence.
The law is distinct from NCMEC's Take It Down service, which helps users remove online intimate images depicting them before they were 18 years old. That service is available in more than 30 languages.
For more information, including additional details about other provisions of the law, see:
S.146 – TAKE IT DOWN Act
U.S. Congress
https://www.congress.gov/bill/119th-congress/senate-bill/146/text