The Sexual Violence Prevention Association (SVPA) is proud to announce our full endorsement of the Intimate Privacy Protection Act. Introduced in the House of Representatives on July 30th, 2024, this bipartisan bill will amend Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act to combat sexual violence on technology platforms. This legislation represents a significant advance in preventing sexual violence and protecting individuals’ rights, privacy, and personal safety.
Digital Sexual Violence
Non-consensual explicit materials (NCEMs) are a form of digital sexual violence. NCEMs include authentic and artificial explicit materials, formerly known as revenge pornography and deepfake pornography respectively. Artificial NCEM has become particularly simple to produce and distribute, leading to a proliferation of material like non-consensual deepfake pornography. In 2023, 98% of online deepfakes were non-consensual and pornographic, and 99% of those were directed at or featured women.1 The same year, the number of deepfakes online doubled every six months.2 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 this kind of violence demonstrates a shortcoming in existing laws regarding online sexual violence and an urgent need for more effective protections against it.
A significant challenge to successfully addressing online sexual violence thus far has been Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act. This law broadly protects social media companies, search engines, and other online services from being held legally culpable for harmful content, including NCEM, created or uploaded on their platforms. The lack of accountability enforced by Section 230 among interactive computer companies creates little to no motivation for them to address user safety or prevent non-consensual explicit content on their platforms. Ultimately, Section 230 allows tech companies to avoid taking accountability for their role in the spread of digital sexual violence.
In order to better protect individual safety, both online and offline, Congress must amend Section 230 to require tech companies to take preventive action against digital sexual violence and be held accountable for existing instances of it on their platforms. The Intimate Privacy Protection Act is a legislative solution to this issue.
Intimate Privacy Protection Act
The Intimate Privacy Protection Act would amend Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act to require companies to take responsibility for digital sexual violence that occurs or could occur on their platforms. It establishes a “Duty of Care” for interactive online companies which legally requires them to address sexual violence, including “cyberstalking, intimate privacy violations, and digital forgeries”.3 The Duty of Care requires companies to implement a transparent 24-hour removal process for NCEM and maintain data logs that allow survivors to access necessary legal information. It would also introduce comprehensive reporting and investigation processes for incidents of digital sexual violence. Additionally, this bill would enable courts to order the immediate removal and blocking of content deemed unlawful, with which tech must promptly comply.
The Intimate Privacy Protection Act importantly redefines “information content provider” to include entities who promote or solicit the creation or dissemination of NCEM, expanding accountability to both companies and individuals involved in digital sexual violence. It also targets broader concerns like digital forgeries, such as deepfakes, which threaten democracy by increasingly contributing to the spread of election misinformation. This bill would close dangerous gaps in the existing legal framework.
SVPA Support
The Sexual Violence Prevention Association is dedicated to preventing sexual violence in all forms. The Intimate Privacy Protection Act directly aligns with this mission by addressing and preventing the growing threat of online sexual violence, particularly NCEM. It also builds on the SVPA’s existing efforts in developing legislation for digital sexual violence, such as the Defiance Act.
“Digital sexual violence is the most rapidly increasing form of sexual violence. The Intimate Privacy Protection Act will protect victims across the country and prevent these harms before they happen. By targeting tech companies, this bill addresses the issue at the root and ensures systemic action to prevent these traumatic harms. As a survivor of deepfake pornography, I strongly believe in this bill’s ability to support survivors and enforce tech accountability,” said Omny Miranda Martone, Founder and CEO of the Sexual Violence Prevention Association (SVPA).
We urge lawmakers, advocacy groups, and members of the public to join us in supporting the Intimate Privacy Protection Act. Contact your representatives and spread awareness about the issue of sexual violence online. Together, we can create a safer community free from digital sexual violence.
- “Release: Auchincloss Introduces Bipartisan Bill to Tackle Rise in Non-Consensual Deepfakes on Social Media Platforms.” U.S. Congressman Jake Auchincloss Of Massachusetts 4th District, 30 July 2024, auchincloss.house.gov/media/press-releases/release-auchincloss-introduces-bipartisan-bill-to-tackle-rise-in-non-consensualdeepfakes-on-social-media-platforms. ↩︎
- https://www.naag.org/attorney-general-journal/an-update-on-the-legal-landscape-of-revenge-porn/
↩︎ - “Policy Intelligence Platform.” POLITICO Pro, www.politicopro.com/. Accessed 16 Aug. 2024. ↩︎
