Privacy advocates and digital rights raise warnings about a law that many expect to chant: a federal campaign to take revenge on porn and Deepfakes created from artificial intelligence.
The newly signed Take It Download makes it illegal to publish clear, non-uniform or created images of artificial intelligence-and give only 48 hours to comply with the request to remove the victim or the commitment of confrontation. While a long scale was widely praised for the victims, experts also warned their mysterious language, relaxation standards to verify claims, and a narrow compliance window can pave the way for its transcendence, control of legal content, and even monitoring.
“The moderate content is widely widely problematic and always ends with the control of important and necessary speech,” India McKini, Director of Federal Affairs at the Electronic Frontier Foundation, a digital rights organization, told Techcrunch.
Online platforms have one year to create an unusual intimate images (NCII). While the law requires removal requests from victims or their representatives, it only asks about a material or electronic signature – no identifier for photos or any other form of verification. This is more likely to reduce the barriers of the victims, but it may create an opportunity to abuse.
“I really want to be mistaken in this, but I think there will be more requests to remove images depicting people who are transient in relationships, and even more, I think it will be pornographic by mutual consent.”
The Senator Marsha Blackburn (R-TN), a participant sponsorship of the Take Download Law, sponsored the Internet Safety Law for children who puts responsibility on platforms to protect children from harmful online content. Blackburn said she believed Content with transgender people Harmful for children. Likewise, the Heritage Corporation – the conservative research tank behind the 2025 project – has also it He said “Keeping children’s transient content protects children.”
Because of the responsibility facing platforms if a picture does not come down within 48 hours of receiving a request, “the default will be that they only take it without any investigation to see if this is actually NCII or if another type of protected speech, or if it is related to the person who submits the request.”
Snapchat and Meta said they support the law, but neither of them responded to Techcrunch requests to get more information about how to check if the person who requests removal is a victim.
Mastodon, a decentralized platform that hosts its main server to which others can join, tied to tend to remove if it is extremely difficult to check the victim.
Mastodon and other decentralized platforms such as Bluesky or Pixelfed may be particularly vulnerable to the backbone of the 48 -hour removal base. These networks depend on the servers that are operated independently, and often run by non -profit organizations or individuals. Under the law, FTC can handle any platform that does not reasonably correspond to “the demands of removal as a” unfair or deceptive act or practice ” – even if the host is not a commercial entity.
“This is worrying about his face, but it is at the moment he took the FTC chair Unprecedented Steps to politicization The agency has explicitly promised to use the agency’s strength to punish platforms and services on ideologicalUnlike the principle, “Civil Civil Rights Initiative, which is a non -profit institution devoted to ending porn for revenge, in a statement.
Proactive monitoring
MCKINNEY predicts that platforms will start moderate content before publishing them, so they have fewer posts that must be lowered in the future.
Platforms already use artificial intelligence to monitor harmful content.
Kevin Qouh, CEO and co -founder to start starting the content that was created from artificial intelligence, said his company is working with online platforms to detect sexual assault materials (CSAM). Some HIVE customers between Reddit, Giphy, Vevo, Bluesky and Bereal.
“We were actually one of the technology companies that supported this bill,” Quh told Techcrunch. “It will help in solving some very important problems and forcing these platforms to adopt more proactive solutions.”
HIVE is a software program as a service, so startup does not control how to use its product platforms to form content or remove content. But Qoh said that many customers enter the HIVE application programming interface at the download point that must be monitored before sending anything to the community.
A Reddit Techcrunch spokesman told the basic system that uses “the advanced tools, processes and sophisticated teams for treatment and removal” NCII. Reddit also participates with the non -profit SwGFL to publish its StopNCII tool, which surveys the direct traffic traffic for well -known NCII database and removes accurate matches. The company did not share how you will ensure that the person who requests removal is the victim.
MCKINNEY warns that this type of monitoring can extend to encrypted messages in the future. While the law focuses on public or semi -general publication, it also requires platforms “removing reasonable efforts and making reasonable efforts to prevent re -download” of unusual intimate images. She says this can stimulate the pre -emptive survey of all content, even in encrypted spaces. The law does not include any copper points for cryptocurrency to the end to the end of the WhatsApp, Signal or IMESSAGE.
Meta, Signal and Apple did not respond to the Techcrunch request for more information about its plans for encrypted messages.
Made wider effects of freedom of expression
On March 4, Trump made a joint letter to the Congress praised by the Take IT Download Law and said he was looking forward to signing the law.
He added: “I will use this bill myself as well, if you do not mind.” “No one is treated worse than me online.”
While the audience laughed at the comment, not everyone took it as a joke. Trump was not shy of repression or revenge for unfavorable speech, whether it was describing the main media. “People’s enemies” Except for Associated Press From the oval office despite the court order, or Drag From NPR and PBS.
Thursday, Trump Administration Harvard University was banned Accepting the acceptance of foreign students, he refused to escalate the conflict that began after Harvard to adhere to Trump’s demands to make changes to its curriculum and eliminate the content related to Dei, among other things. In revenge, Trump freezed federal financing to Harvard University and threatened to cancel the university’s tax exemption.
“While we already see school councils trying to ban books and see some politicians very explicitly about the types of content that people do not want to see at all, whether it is critical race theory, abortion information or information about climate change … It is very uncomfortable for us through our previous work in moderate content to see the members of both parties calls for some extent to the content content.”
