TAKE IT DOWN Act (United States)

1. 2024-06

   S. 4569 introduced

   Senators Cruz and Klobuchar introduce the bill after cases involving AI-generated images of teenagers.

2. 2025-02

   Passes the Senate

   Reintroduced as S. 146 and passed by unanimous consent.

3. 2025-04-28

   Passes the House

   409 to 2.

4. 2025-05-19

   Signed into law

   Criminal provisions take effect immediately; platforms get one year.

5. 2026-05-19

   FTC enforcement begins

   The FTC opens TakeItDown.ftc.gov for complaints and sends warning letters to 12 'nudify' services.

What does the Act cover?

Two things. First, a criminal offence: knowingly publishing, in interstate commerce, an intimate visual depiction of an identifiable person without consent, where the image was obtained in circumstances of a reasonable expectation of privacy and publication is intended to cause harm or does so. The offence expressly covers digital forgeries, images created or altered with software or AI so that a reasonable person would believe they are authentic. Threats to publish are also criminalised.

Second, a notice-and-removal duty for covered platforms: websites, apps and online services that primarily host user-generated content or publish non-consensual intimate images in the ordinary course of business. From 19 May 2026 a covered platform must provide a clear process for a depicted person or their representative to request removal, remove the image within 48 hours of a valid request, and make reasonable efforts to remove known identical copies.

Who enforces it?

The Department of Justice prosecutes the criminal offences. The Federal Trade Commission enforces the platform duty as an unfair or deceptive act under section 5 of the FTC Act, with civil penalties. On 19 May 2026 the FTC announced that enforcement had begun, opened a complaint portal at TakeItDown.ftc.gov, and sent warning letters to twelve companies offering "nudify" tools that appeared to lack any removal process.

What does it mean for face search?

The Act does not regulate face search engines as such; a search index is not a covered platform unless it primarily hosts user-generated content. Its practical effect is on the removal side. A person who finds an intimate image of themselves through an engine such as FaceSearch, PimEyes or FaceCheck.ID now has a federal route to get it off the hosting platform within 48 hours, in addition to the state revenge-porn statutes that all fifty states have and the voluntary hash-matching scheme run by StopNCII. The NCII removal directory lists the routes side by side.

What are the penalties?

• Publishing an intimate depiction of an adult without consent: a fine and up to two years' imprisonment.
• Where the depicted person is a minor: up to three years.
• Threatening to publish: up to the same terms, higher where the victim is a minor.
• Platform failure to maintain a process or to remove within 48 hours: FTC civil penalties, up to $53,088 per violation at the 2025 inflation adjustment.

What is pending or unsettled?

• Civil-liberties groups, including the Electronic Frontier Foundation and the Cyber Civil Rights Initiative, argued the 48-hour rule invites over-removal and lacks a counter-notice; any challenge to the platform provisions had not produced a decision by November 2026.
• Whether encrypted messaging services are covered platforms is disputed; the FTC's first enforcement targets were nudify apps, not messaging.
• The Act does not create a private right of action for victims; civil remedies remain under state law and the 2022 federal civil action in the Violence Against Women Act reauthorisation (15 U.S.C. 6851).