For Immediate Release – January 9, 2025
We urge Congress to reintroduce the DEFIANCE Act and the Take It Down Act, two vital bills for preventing and addressing digital sexual violence. Both of these bipartisan acts passed the Senate unanimously in the previous Congress but failed to become law. The 119th Congress must prioritize these bills in order to protect survivors across the country.
The newest and most prolific form of digital sexual violence is non-consensual explicit materials (NCEMs) NCEMs include authentic and artificial explicit materials, formerly known as revenge pornography and deepfake pornography respectively.
NCEM causes immense emotional trauma as well as severe harm including loss of employment, damaged reputation, and an increased risk of domestic violence, sexual violence, and stalking. The disturbing rise in these harms demonstrates a shortcoming in existing laws regarding online sexual violence and an urgent need for more effective protections against it.
The DEFIANCE Act will address and prevent artificial NCEM (formerly known as deepfake pornography) by empowering victims to seek justice. Once codified into law, this bill will create a civil right of action to legally challenge the creation, distribution, and solicitation of deepfake pornography made without the consent of the person depicted.
The Take It Down Act will address artificial and authentic NCEM by requiring social media companies and other online platforms to have “report and remove” procedures. In other words, they must establish a process for victims to report NCEM and they must review and remove reports within 48 hours. If platforms fail to do so, the Federal Trade Commission can take action against them. Further, this act criminalizes the publication of NCEM.
The Sexual Violence Prevention Association (SVPA) strongly urges the 119th Congress to reintroduce and pass the DEFIANCE Act and the Take It Down Act.
