United StatesTAKE IT DOWN Act
Pub. L. 119-12, S. 146, 119th Cong. (2025)
In force since .
A notice and action rule binding public and private bodies.
- Obligation class
- Prohibition, Governance
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.
These lines are LexLint's reading of the law's text.
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
- 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" (), 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" (), 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 through the read date.
What this law does
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 .
The Section 3 platform notice-and-removal duty described by this row's own penalty and enforcement fields did not take effect until , one year after enactment.
When LexLint raises it
When your app profile says your app operates a social platform, generates images with AI, generates video with AI or publishes adult content.
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Page updated .