Earlier this month, the Senate passed the TAKE IT DOWN Act (S. 146), by a voice vote. The bill is meant to speed up the removal of non-consensual intimate imagery, or NCII, including videos that imita...
Read Full Article »The Senate Passed The TAKE IT DOWN Act, Threatening Free Expression and Due Process
Discussion Points
- The TAKE IT DOWN Act's potential impact on free speech and user privacy, particularly in regards to the broad definition of non-consensual intimate imagery (NCII) and the lack of safeguards against frivolous or bad-faith takedown requests.
- The effectiveness of enforcing and improving existing civil and criminal laws addressing NCII versus implementing a new, potentially abused regime like the TAKE IT DOWN Act's notice-and-takedown system.
- The tension between protecting victims of privacy invasions and preserving legitimate forms of speech, such as satire, journalism, and political commentary that may involve intimate or sexual content.
Summary
The Senate passed the TAKE IT DOWN Act (S. 146), a bill aiming to speed up removal of non-consensual intimate imagery, including "deepfakes." Critics argue that the current draft threatens free expression, user privacy, and due process without addressing the issue it claims to solve.
The bill's broad definition of NCII and lack of safeguards against abuse could lead to censorship of legitimate speech. Instead of this approach, experts recommend focusing on enforcing and improving existing laws addressing NCII.
Users are urged to speak out against the bill in the House of Representatives and tell theiepresentatives to oppose it.