The U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC) on May 19, 2026, began enforcing Section 3 of the Tools to Address Known Exploitation by Immobilizing Technological Deepfakes on Websites and Networks Act (TAKE IT DOWN Act, or TIDA), one year after President Donald Trump signed the bipartisan measure into law. <cite index="19-2,19-3">The agency announced it had launched TakeItDown.ftc.gov, a website allowing victims and survivors to submit complaints about platforms that have failed to act on valid requests for the removal of nonconsensual intimate images.</cite>
Statutory Framework
The law operates on two tracks. <cite index="3-3,3-4">S. 146 criminalizes the nonconsensual publication of intimate images, including "digital forgeries" (i.e., deepfakes), in certain circumstances, and requires certain websites and online or mobile applications, identified as "covered platforms," to implement a "notice-and-removal" process to remove such images at the depicted individual's request.</cite> <cite index="3-6">The bill's criminal prohibition took effect immediately upon signing, while covered platforms had one year — until May 19, 2026 — to establish the required notice-and-removal process.</cite>
The statute's central operative requirement is the 48-hour takedown window. <cite index="16-3,16-4,16-5">Section 3 requires covered platforms to provide a process for people to request the removal of intimate photos or videos shared without their consent. When a covered platform receives a valid request, it must remove the content — along with any known identical copies — within 48 hours. The Act covers a wide range of nonconsensual intimate imagery, including intimate real photos and videos as well as "digital forgeries," such as images of people that were digitally created or altered using software, an app, or artificial intelligence.</cite>
Scope and Penalties
<cite index="18-24,18-25">"Covered platforms" is defined to include public websites, online services and applications, and mobile applications that either primarily provide a forum for user-generated content or are primarily designed to publish nonconsensual intimate visual depictions. Covered platforms do not include broadband Internet access providers, email services, or online services or websites with primarily preselected content where the content is not user-generated but curated by the provider.</cite>
Criminal penalties scale by victim and conduct. <cite index="6-8,6-9,6-10">Any person who shares deepfakes or shares or threatens to share authentic intimate visual depictions of an adult is subject to fines and up to two years of imprisonment. Any person who intentionally threatens to share deepfakes is subject to fines and up to 18 months of imprisonment. Any person who shares deepfakes or shares or threatens to share authentic intimate visual depictions of a minor is subject to fines and up to three years of imprisonment.</cite>
On the platform side, <cite index="14-8,14-9">failure to comply with the Act's takedown provisions constitutes an unfair or deceptive act under Section 18(a)(1)(B) of the Federal Trade Commission Act (FTCA). The Act vests enforcement authority in the FTC, and violations are subject to the penalties available under the FTCA, which could include civil fines, injunctive relief, and consumer redress.</cite>
Industry Notice and Legal Challenges
Ahead of the enforcement date, <cite index="19-8">FTC Chairman Andrew Ferguson sent letters to major platforms — Alphabet, Amazon, Apple, Automattic, Bumble, Discord, Match Group, Meta, Microsoft, Pinterest, Reddit, SmugMug, Snapchat, TikTok and X — reminding them of businesses' obligation to comply fully with TIDA no later than May 19, 2026.</cite>
The law is widely characterized as the first federal U.S. statute targeting AI-enabled harms to individuals. <cite index="6-5">The Take It Down Act is the first federal law that limits the use of AI in ways that can be harmful to individuals.</cite> Civil liberties groups have raised concerns about overbreadth and potential misuse of the takedown mechanism. <cite index="2-19,2-20">Groups including the Center for Democracy & Technology, the Electronic Frontier Foundation, Fight for the Future, the Freedom of the Press Foundation, and Public Knowledge cite concerns with the vagueness of the law's language, noting that while the bill is written to target nonconsensual intimate imagery, other legal content is not specifically exempted from the takedown.</cite> <cite index="13-21">The law contains no penalties for filing a fraudulent removal request.</cite>