On Monday, Representatives Celeste Maloy (R-UT) and Jake Auchincloss (D-MA) introduced the Deepfake Liability Act. The legislation is intended to address the increasing problem of nonconsensual deepfake pornography and related online tools. According to its sponsors, women and teenage girls are most often targeted by these abuses, which now represent a significant portion of deepfake content on the internet.
“Abusive deepfakes and cyberstalking are harming people across the country, and victims deserve real help. Our bill creates a straightforward duty of care and a reliable process to remove harmful content when victims ask for help,” said Congresswoman Celeste Maloy. “Companies that take this seriously will keep their protections under the law. Those that do nothing will be held accountable.”
The proposed bill would amend Section 230 by tying liability protections for platforms to a clear duty of care. Under this act, platforms must take steps such as preventing cyberstalking and abusive deepfakes, responding to victim reports, investigating credible complaints, and removing harmful content that violates privacy rights. Additionally, it specifies that AI-generated content is not eligible for Section 230 immunity.
“AI shouldn’t have special privileges & immunities that journalists don’t get,” said Congressman Jake Auchincloss. “Using bots or deepfakes to violate or stalk another person is reprehensible, and it needs to be a CEO-level problem for the trillion-dollar social media corporations that platform it. Congress needs to get ahead of this growing problem, instead of being left in the dust like we were with social media.”
The Deepfake Liability Act draws from procedures established in the Take It Down Act by including notice-and-removal processes for unlawful material online. The requirements include specific reporting processes, investigation protocols, timely removal measures for illegal content, and data retention so victims can pursue legal action if needed.
Danielle Keats Citron, Vice President of the Cyber Civil Rights Initiative commented: “The time is now to reform Section 230. For too long, online platforms have been shielded from liability for online abuse that we know silences victims and ruins lives. Nearly every industry owes basic duties to prevent foreseeable harm; with this bill, so will the tech industry. This bill imposes a well-defined duty of care on online platforms to prevent, investigate, and remove cyberstalking, nonconsensual intimate images, and digital forgeries.” She added: “The bill also corrects an overbroad judicial interpretation of Section 230 that lets platforms solicit or encourage online activity without accountability. With this bill, online intermediaries will be responsible not only for online speech activity they helped create or develop but also for online speech activity that they solicit or encourage. This is the bill that we need to protect civil rights and liberties online.”
