Press Releases

On Monday, Representatives Celeste Maloy (R-UT) and Jake Auchincloss (D-MA) introduced the Deepfake Liability Act, aimed at addressing the rapid rise of nonconsensual deepfake pornography and the online tools that enable it. Women and teenage girls are the overwhelming targets of these abuses, which now make up the vast majority of deepfake content online.

 

“Abusive deepfakes and cyberstalking are harming people across the country, and victims deserve real help. Our bill creates a straightforward duty of care and a reliable process to remove harmful content when victims ask for help,” said Congresswoman Celeste Maloy. “Companies that take this seriously will keep their protections under the law. Those that do nothing will be held accountable.”

 

The bill amends Section 230 by conditioning a platform’s liability protections on meeting a clear duty of care. Platforms would be required to take basic steps to prevent cyberstalking and abusive deepfakes, respond to reports from victims, investigate credible complaints, and remove harmful content that violates individuals’ privacy. The legislation also clarifies that AI-generated content does not qualify for Section 230 immunity.

 

“AI shouldn’t have special privileges & immunities that journalists don’t get,” said Congressman Jake Auchincloss. “Using bots or deepfakes to violate or stalk another person is reprehensible, and it needs to be a CEO-level problem for the trillion-dollar social media corporations that platform it. Congress needs to get ahead of this growing problem, instead of being left in the dust like we were with social media.”

 

The Deepfake Liability Act incorporates the notice and removal framework from the Take It Down Act. It outlines requirements for reporting processes, investigation procedures, timely removal of unlawful material, and data logging to ensure victims can access information needed for legal action.

 

“The time is now to reform Section 230. For too long, online platforms have been shielded from liability for online abuse that we know silences victims and ruins lives. Nearly every industry owes basic duties to prevent foreseeable harm; with this bill, so will the tech industry. This bill imposes a well-defined duty of care on online platforms to prevent, investigate, and remove cyberstalking, nonconsensual intimate images, and digital forgeries,” said Danielle Keats Citron, Vice President of the Cyber Civil Rights Initiative. “The bill also corrects an overbroad judicial interpretation of Section 230 that lets platforms solicit or encourage online activity without accountability. With this bill, online intermediaries will be responsible not only for online speech activity they helped create or develop but also for online speech activity that they solicit or encourage. This is the bill that we need to protect civil rights and liberties online.”