President Donald Trump and his wife Melania hosted a signing ceremony on Monday for the Take It Down Act, a bill the first lady assisted in moving through Congress to impose more severe penalties for the sharing of non-consensual intimate images on the internet, also known as “revenge porn.”
In March, Melania Trump employed her first public outing since assuming the role again to go to Capitol Hill to urge House members to pass the bill after its passage in the Senate.
White House Acknowledges First Lady’s Role
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt briefed reporters earlier Monday that the first lady was “instrumental in getting this important legislation passed.”
The legislation criminalizes the act of “knowingly publishing” or threatening to publish intimate images without an individual’s consent, including AI-generated “deepfakes.” The sites and social media networks will also be forced to delete such content within 48 hours of a victim asking for it. The platforms must also take measures to remove duplicate copies.
Several states already prohibit the sharing of sexually explicit deepfakes or revenge porn, but the Take It Down Act is an unusual instance of federal regulators acting against internet companies.
The legislation, introduced by Sens. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, and Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., was approved overwhelmingly in Congress on a bipartisan basis, clearing the House in April 409-2 and the Senate by unanimous consent.
Free Speech Advocates Raise Concerns
However, the measure has its opponents. Free speech groups and digital rights organizations assert the bill is too sweeping and may result in censorship of genuine images, such as legal pornography and LGBTQ material. Others contend that it will enable the government to intercept private communications and erode due process.
The first lady did make an appearance at a Capitol Hill roundtable with congress members and young women to whom someone had posted explicit photos of them online, describing it as “heartbreaking” to witness what teens and particularly girls endure after this is done to them. She also invited a victim as one of her guests for the president’s address to a joint session of Congress on the following day.
Following the House’s approval of the bill, Melania Trump referred to the bipartisan vote as a “powerful statement that we stand united in protecting the dignity, privacy and safety of our children.”
Link to ‘Be Best’ Initiative of Melania Trump
Her support for the bill is an extension of the Be Best initiative she initiated during the president’s first term, dealing with children’s wellness, social media usage and opioid addiction.
In his address to Congress in March, the president stated the posting of such photos on the internet is “just terrible” and that he eagerly awaits signing the bill into law.
“And I’m going to use that bill for myself, too, if you don’t mind,” he said. “There’s nobody who gets treated worse than I do online. Nobody.”