Congress Cybersecurity & Tech

Lawfare Daily: Digital Forgeries, Real Felonies: Inside the TAKE IT DOWN Act

Renee DiResta, Mary Anne Franks, Becca Branum, Adam Conner, Jen Patja
Tuesday, May 6, 2025, 8:00 AM
What is the TAKE IT DOWN Act?
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The TAKE IT DOWN Act is the first major U.S. federal law to squarely target non‑consensual intimate imagery (NCII) and to include a component requiring tech companies to act. Long handled via a patchwork of state laws, it criminalizes NCII at the federal level—both authentic images and AI-generated digital forgeries—and requires that platforms remove reported NCII within 48 hours of notification by a victim or victim's representative. TAKE IT DOWN passed with wide bipartisan support—unanimously in the Senate, and 409-2 in the House. Melania Trump championed it, and it is expected that President Trump will sign it. And yet, some of the cyber civil rights organizations that have led the fight to mitigate the harms of NCII over many years have serious reservations about the bill as passed. Why?

Lawfare Contributing Editor Renée DiResta sits down with Mary Anne Franks, President and Legislative & Technology Policy Director at the Cyber Civil Rights Initiative, and Eugene L. and Barbara A. Bernard Professor in Intellectual Property, Technology, and Civil Rights Law at the George Washington Law School; Becca Branum, Deputy Director of the Free Expression Project at the Center for Democracy & Technology; and Adam Conner, Vice President, Technology Policy at the Center for American Progress to unpack what the bill does, why it suddenly cruised through on a rare bipartisan wave of support, and whether its sweeping takedown mandate will protect victims or chill lawful speech. This is a nuanced discussion; some of the guests support specific aspects of the bill, while disagreeing about the implementation of others. Expect clear explanations, constructive disagreement, and practical takeaways for understanding this important piece of legislation.

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Renee DiResta

Renee DiResta

@noUpside
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Renée DiResta is an Associate Research Professor at the McCourt School of Public Policy at Georgetown. She is a contributing editor at Lawfare.
Mary Anne Franks

Mary Anne Franks

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Dr. Mary Anne Franks is a Professor of Law and Dean’s Distinguished Scholar at the University of Miami School of Law, where she teaches First Amendment law, law and technology, and criminal law and procedure. She is the President and Legislative and Tech Policy Director of the Cyber Civil Rights Initiative, a nonprofit organization dedicated to combating online discrimination and abuse, and an Affiliate Fellow of the Yale Law School Information Society Project. She is the author of The Cult of the Constitution: Our Deadly Devotion to Guns and Free Speech (Stanford 2019).
Becca Branum

Becca Branum

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Becca Branum is the Deputy Director of the Free Expression Project at the Center for Democracy & Technology.
Adam Conner

Adam Conner

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Adam Conner is the vice president of Technology Policy at the Center for American Progress.
Jen Patja

Jen Patja

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Jen Patja is the editor and producer of the Lawfare Podcast and Rational Security. She currently serves as the Co-Executive Director of Virginia Civics, a nonprofit organization that empowers the next generation of leaders in Virginia by promoting constitutional literacy, critical thinking, and civic engagement. She is the former Deputy Director of the Robert H. Smith Center for the Constitution at James Madison's Montpelier and has been a freelance editor for over 20 years.
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