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Take It Down Act signed
The United States moved to criminalize the nonconsensual publication of pornographic images created by artificial intelligence when Donald Trump signed the Take It Down Act, a federal law described as targeting “pornographic images, real or AI-generated, without the consent of the people involved.”
“Donald Trump signed on Monday a historic law criminalizing the distribution of pornographic images, real or AI-generated, without the consent of the people involved.”
The law, supported by First Lady Melania Trump, is named the Take It Down Act and was described as promising “up to three years in prison for violators.”
The House of Representatives previously voted “409 votos a favor y 2 en contra” to send the measure to Trump for sanction, and the Senate had given it unanimous approval in February.
The legislation also requires platforms to remove the material after it is reported, with Univision saying the law “exige a las plataformas en línea eliminar el material en un plazo de 48 horas después de ser denunciado.”
Voices, warnings, and enforcement
Melania Trump backed the measure, and 20 Minutes reported that she said the law would ensure “que cada American, especialmente el joven, can feel better protected.”
Critics raised concerns about censorship, and TN quoted that “Los críticos, sin embargo, expresaron su preocupación por que la legislación otorgue a las autoridades un mayor poder de censura.”
In the first major federal enforcement described in the sources, federal prosecutors in Brooklyn charged Cornelius Shannon and Arturo Hernandez under the Take It Down Act, with the U.S. Attorney’s Office, Eastern District of New York saying the defendants used “cutting-edge digital technology to create images that degraded and violated victims across the United States.”
The Justice Department statement also included an FBI characterization of the conduct as “a disturbing abuse of technology that inflicts emotional harm on victims,” as described in the Let's Data Science account.
What happens next
The Take It Down Act’s enforcement and platform obligations are tied to rapid removal after reports, with Univision stating that platforms must eliminate the content within “48 horas” and make “esfuerzos razonables para eliminar todas las copias del contenido.”
“eliminar el material en un plazo de 48 horas después de ser denunciado”
In the enforcement case, the sources describe arrests tied to specific locations, with Hernandez arrested in Bedias, Texas, and Shannon arrested in New Jersey, as stated in the Let's Data Science account.
The law’s reach is also framed through the scale of alleged conduct, with International Business Times saying prosecutors alleged Shannon uploaded “at least 360 albums” involving “roughly 90 female victims” since May 2025.
Beyond enforcement, the sources also describe ongoing political and legal stakes, including the Electronic Frontier Foundation warning of “vague definitions and the lack of guardrails,” and the EFF saying “Good intentions alone are not enough to make a good law.”
