United StatesTAKE IT DOWN Act
Pub. L. 119-12, S. 146, 119th Cong. (2025)
A citation is an address, not a summary. The first part names the law; what follows narrows it to the exact section, article or paragraph.
What follows is LexLint's own research summary of this law, not legal advice.
In force 4 months, effective 19 May 2026.
A sensitive categories rule binding public and private bodies.
As of 23 August 2026.
What it requires
- Establish a process to remove a nonconsensual intimate visual depiction, including an AI-generated depiction, within 48 hours of a valid request from the depicted individual or their representative.
If you get it wrong
Criminal exposureYes
Private right of actionNo
Criminal exposure note
Knowing publication of a nonconsensual intimate visual depiction of an identifiable adult is a federal crime under 47 U.S.C. 223(h)(4)(A), carrying a fine and imprisonment of up to 2 years; a depiction of a minor carries up to 3 years under 223(h)(4)(B), and a threat to publish carries 18 to 30 months under 223(h)(6).
Penalty structure
Section 3(b)(1) of the Act (47 U.S.C. 223a note) treats a covered platform's failure to reasonably comply with the 48-hour notice-and-removal duty as a violation of a rule defining an unfair or deceptive act or practice under section 18(a)(1)(B) of the FTC Act (15 U.S.C. 57a(a)(1)(B)), the same chain COPPA uses, which draws 15 U.S.C. 45(m)(1)(A)'s civil penalty: a nominal $10,000 per violation, adjusted for inflation to $53,088 per violation (2025 figure) by 16 CFR 1.98. This penalty attaches to the platform notice-and-removal duty, not to the separate criminal offense of publishing the depiction itself.
- Rule
- Per violation only
- As of
- 2 September 2026
- Currency
- USD
- Per violation unit
- Violation
- Per violation amount
- 53,088
Who enforces it
Enforcement body
Federal Trade Commission
Enforcement record
The FTC's own press release, "FTC Begins Enforcing the TAKE IT DOWN Act" (May 19, 2026), states that Commission enforcement of the Section 3 platform notice-and-removal duty began that date, one year after enactment. The following day's release, "FTC Sends Warning Letters to Companies About Compliance with the TAKE IT DOWN Act" (May 20, 2026), describes warning letters rather than a case or settlement. The same Privacy and Security Enforcement page's press-release and case listings, current through September 2026, name no completed enforcement action, settlement, or complaint brought under the Act's Section 3 duty as of the read date; the sixteen privacy and data-security matters the page lists over the same period are all brought under other authorities. The zero count covers the period from the Section 3 effective date of 2026-05-19 through the read date.
- As of
- 17 September 2026
- Source link
- https://www.ftc.gov/news-events/topics/protecting-consumer-privacy-security/privacy-security-enforcement
What it reaches
Obligation class
Prohibition, Governance
What this law does
Drafted with AI from the cited sources under the direction of UnGovr staff. UnGovr holds editorial responsibility for this page.
Criminalizes the knowing nonconsensual publication of an intimate visual depiction of an identifiable individual, including an AI-generated depiction, and requires covered platforms to establish a process to remove such content within 48 hours of a valid request from the depicted individual or their representative, enforced by the FTC as an unfair or deceptive practice. The Act's criminal prohibition on nonconsensual publication took effect immediately upon its enactment on May 19, 2025.
The Section 3 platform notice-and-removal duty described by this row's own penalty and enforcement fields did not take effect until May 19, 2026, one year after enactment.
When LexLint raises it
generates_content
Read the law
Official Congress.gov bill page for S.146, 119th Congress
Every line above is drawn from the primary source linked here, read on the date shown. This is a research summary, not legal advice.