Groups See Privacy Issues With Senate-Passed Deepfake Bill

The Center for Democracy & Technology and American Action Forum urged Congress to amend the Tools to Address Known Exploitation by Immobilizing Technological Deepfakes on Websites and Networks (Take It Down) Act. Introduced by Sens. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, and Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., S. 146 passed the Senate unanimously on Feb. 13.

President Donald Trump during his Joint Session of Congress speech Tuesday night, urged the House to consider the measure. Publishing "such images online is a terrible, terrible thing,” he said. “And once it passes the House, I look forward to signing that bill into law.”

First Lady Melania Trump appeared in support of the bill Tuesday on Capitol Hill with Cruz and Rep. Maria Salazar, R-Fla., lead sponsor in the House. The bill would require social media platforms to remove nonconsensual, explicit content within 48 hours of a valid request from a victim. The FTC would enforce the law, treating violations as unfair and deceptive acts.

American Action Forum Technology and Innovation Policy Director Jeffrey Westling said many communications apps that provide encryption services would need to break encryption so they could monitor for illegal material. He urged Congress to include safe harbors for encryption services.

The bill “could undermine encrypted services, and likely won't withstand constitutional scrutiny — leaving survivors without the remedy it promises,” said CDT Free Expression Project Deputy Director Becca Branum. “Congress has more work to do."