By Elizabeth Nolan Brown
Who could possibly oppose legislation to get tough on AI-generated revenge porn? For one, Kentucky Republican Rep. Thomas Massie, one of two nays in Monday’s House vote on the TAKE IT DOWN Act. For another, a whole bunch of civil liberties advocates, including folks with groups like the American Civil Liberties Union, the Electronic Frontier Foundation, and The Future of Free Speech.
That’s because no matter how worthy the intentions behind the TAKE IT DOWN Act may be, the way it’s written poses major threats to protected expression and online privacy. It could also give politicians another tool with which to pressure technology companies into doing their bidding.
None of the measure’s critics are defending “revenge porn,” or what the bill calls “nonconsensual intimate visual depictions.” Rather, they worry that the measure would be “ripe for abuse, with unintended consequences,” as Massie put it.
Alas, the TAKE IT DOWN Act (S.146), sponsored by Sen. Ted Cruz (R–Texas), has now passed the Senate and the House. Next stop: President Donald Trump, who has been supportive of the bill.
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TAKE IT DOWN’s Many Critics
The bill has bipartisan support in Congress, as bills aimed at giving the government more control over online spaces are wont to (see: FOSTA). But it has been roundly criticized by groups concerned with free speech and other civil liberties.
“The TAKE IT DOWN Act responds to real harms, but in the hands of a government increasingly willing to regulate speech, its broad provisions provide a powerful new tool for censoring lawful online expression, monitoring private communications, and undermining due process,” said Ashkhen Kazaryan, senior legal fellow at The Future of Free Speech.
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Ashkhen Kazaryan
Ashkhen Kazaryan is a Senior Legal Fellow at The Future of Free Speech, where she leads initiatives to protect free expression and shape policies that uphold the First Amendment in the digital age.