The TAKE IT DOWN Act, Explained

For years, victims of “revenge porn” and, more recently, AI-generated fakes had a patchwork of state laws and little federal help. That changed with the TAKE IT DOWN Act, a federal law signed in 2025 that both criminalizes non-consensual intimate imagery and forces online platforms to take it down quickly. Here is what it actually does.

Two parts: a crime and a takedown duty

The law works on two tracks. First, it makes it a federal crime to knowingly publish — or threaten to publish — non-consensual intimate images of a person, whether the images are real or AI-generated “digital forgeries” (deepfakes). Second, it imposes a notice-and-removal duty on covered online platforms.

The 48-hour takedown rule

This is the part most useful to victims day to day. Covered platforms must create a clear process for a depicted person to request removal, and once they get a valid request, they must remove the image within 48 hours and make reasonable efforts to remove copies, including identical reposts. The requirement is enforced by the Federal Trade Commission, which can treat non-compliance as an unfair or deceptive practice. Platforms were given until May 2026 to have their takedown systems in place.

What counts, and who is protected

The law covers intimate images published without the depicted person’s consent, and it expressly reaches computer-generated and AI deepfake images that are indistinguishable from real ones. It protects both adults and minors (with images of minors treated even more seriously, as child sexual abuse material). Consent to create an image is not consent to publish it, and the protection covers images later shared without permission.

Penalties for offenders

Violators face criminal penalties, including fines and potential imprisonment, with harsher penalties when the victim is a minor. Threatening to publish such images can also be charged. These are in addition to any state charges and any civil lawsuit the victim may bring.

What it does — and does not — do

• It does give victims a fast, nationwide route to demand removal and puts real teeth behind it.
• It does criminalize non-consensual intimate deepfakes at the federal level.
• It does not automatically award you money — that is a separate civil question handled under state law or (if it becomes law) the proposed federal DEFIANCE Act.
• Critics note the takedown system could be misused for false claims and raises questions for encrypted services, issues courts and the FTC will continue to sort out.

How to use it

If you are a victim, submit a removal request through the platform’s non-consensual-imagery reporting tool, keep proof of the date and time, and follow up if it is not gone within 48 hours. Pair it with a police report and, if the images spread, hash-matching tools that help block re-uploads.

This is general information, not legal advice. For your situation, talk to a licensed attorney and, in an emergency, contact law enforcement.