The TAKE IT DOWN Act: What It Covers and How to Use It

The TAKE IT DOWN Act is a federal law that makes it a crime to knowingly publish intimate images of someone without their consent, including realistic AI-generated fakes, and requires covered online platforms to remove that content within 48 hours of a valid request from the person shown. It was signed on May 19, 2025, and the Federal Trade Commission began enforcing the platform removal requirement on May 19, 2026.

If this is happening to you right now, it is not your fault, and you don’t need a lawyer to send a removal request. This guide explains what the law covers, what platforms have to do, how to make a request that counts, and what to do if a platform ignores you. It is general information, not legal advice, and it reflects the law and the FTC’s guidance as of September 2026.

What the TAKE IT DOWN Act is

The name is short for the “Tools to Address Known Exploitation by Immobilizing Technological Deepfakes on Websites and Networks Act”. It became Public Law 119-12 when it was approved on May 19, 2025, after passing the Senate in February 2025 and the House in April 2025.

The law does two separate things, and it helps to keep them apart:

• It creates federal crimes. Knowingly publishing someone’s intimate images without consent, real or AI-generated, and threatening to do so, can be prosecuted.
• It gives you a removal right against platforms. Covered platforms must run a notice-and-removal process and act on valid requests within 48 hours. The FTC enforces this part.

The removal right is the part most people will use. You don’t have to wait for a criminal case, and you don’t have to prove who posted the images.

What it covers, including AI-generated images

The law covers “intimate visual depictions” of an identifiable person: photos or videos showing nudity or sexual content, where the person can be recognized by their face, likeness or another distinguishing feature, such as a birthmark or tattoo.

It also covers “digital forgeries”. The Act defines these as intimate images of an identifiable person created with software, machine learning, artificial intelligence or other technical means, including by altering a real photo, that a reasonable person would find indistinguishable from a real image of that person. In plain terms, a realistic deepfake counts. If you’re dealing with a fake, our guide to AI-generated images of you covers the platform reports and search removals in more detail.

Consent is about publication, not creation

Two rules in the Act matter a lot for victims:

• Agreeing to an image being created is not the same as agreeing to it being published.
• Sharing an image privately with one person is not consent for that person to publish it.

So if you sent a photo to a partner and they later posted it, the fact that you took it or sent it does not mean you consented to it going online. The Act defines consent as an affirmative, conscious and voluntary authorization, free from force, fraud, duress, misrepresentation or coercion.

What platforms must do

Under Section 3 of the Act, a covered platform must:

1. Offer a removal process. You, or someone authorized to act for you, must be able to notify the platform about an intimate image of you published without consent and ask for it to be removed.
2. Explain it clearly. The platform must give a clear and conspicuous notice of the process, in plain language, including how to submit a request.
3. Remove the content within 48 hours. After receiving a valid request, the platform must remove the image “as soon as possible, but not later than 48 hours”.
4. Look for copies. It must make reasonable efforts to identify and remove known identical copies of the same image.

The Act also protects platforms that remove material in good faith, even if it later turns out the image wasn’t unlawful. That’s deliberate: it encourages platforms to act quickly rather than argue about each case.

Which platforms are covered

A “covered platform” is a public-facing website, online service or app that mainly provides a forum for user-generated content, such as messages, videos, images, games and audio, or whose regular business involves publishing nonconsensual intimate images. The FTC’s business guidance gives social media, messaging, image and video sharing, and gaming platforms as examples.

The Act excludes broadband internet providers, email, and sites that mainly publish their own preselected content where comments or chat are only incidental. The FTC can also enforce the law against nonprofit organizations, not only companies.

Key dates at a glance

Date	What happened
February 13, 2025	The Senate passed the bill (S. 146)
April 28, 2025	The House passed it
May 19, 2025	Signed into law; the criminal provisions took effect as law
May 19, 2026	Deadline for platforms to have their removal process in place; FTC enforcement of the 48-hour rule began

How to make a valid removal request

The Act lists what a request must contain, in writing. If a platform has a dedicated form, use it, because it’s built to collect these details. If it doesn’t, include them in your message:

1. Your signature. A physical or electronic signature from you, or from someone authorized to act for you. Typing your full name is usually how an electronic signature works on an online form.
2. Where the image is. Enough information for the platform to find it, ideally the exact link to each post, profile or file.
3. A short good-faith statement. A brief statement that you believe in good faith the image was published without your consent, with any details that help the platform see that.
4. How to contact you. An email address or other contact details for you or your representative.

Here’s the kind of wording that works in a free-text box:

I am the person shown in the image at [link]. It is an intimate image that was published without my consent. I am requesting its removal under the TAKE IT DOWN Act, and removal of any known identical copies. I have a good-faith belief that this image is not consensual. You can contact me at [email]. Signed, [full name], [date].

Keep a copy of every request, the date and time you sent it, and any confirmation or reference number. The FTC’s guidance tells platforms to give each request an identifying number so people can track its status, so look out for one.

Tools that work alongside the law

The Act gives you a right on each platform, one request at a time. Hashing tools help stop the same image being uploaded again across many platforms at once:

• Take It Down (NCMEC) is a free service for images taken when the person was under 18, including adults today whose images were taken when they were minors. NCMEC says your image stays on your device, only a digital fingerprint (a hash) is shared, and you can stay anonymous.
• StopNCII.org works in a similar way for adults.

Despite the similar name, NCMEC’s Take It Down service is separate from the TAKE IT DOWN Act. Use both. Our step-by-step guide on removing intimate images shared without consent also covers Google’s removal request for explicit images, which works on search results rather than on the site hosting the image.

A worked example

This is an illustrative scenario, not a real client. After a breakup, “Maya” finds an intimate photo she once sent her ex posted on a photo-sharing app and on a forum. A week later, a manipulated image of her appears on a second account.

1. She writes down each link, the account names and the dates, without sharing the images with anyone.
2. On the photo-sharing app she uses its reporting option for nonconsensual intimate images, signs with her full name, lists all three links and adds a one-line good-faith statement. She notes the reference number.
3. The forum has no form, so she emails its listed contact address with the same details and the wording above.
4. She creates hashes through StopNCII.org so participating platforms can block re-uploads.
5. The app removes the posts within two days. The forum doesn’t reply. After 48 hours, she reports the forum to the FTC at TakeItDown.ftc.gov and asks Google to remove the forum pages from search results.
6. Because her ex is also threatening to post more, she reports the threats to the police and the FBI and talks to a lawyer about a protective order.

Not every platform responds as the law requires, and sites based outside the US can be harder to reach. But documenting each request gives Maya, the FTC and any lawyer she works with a clear record.

If a platform doesn’t remove it within 48 hours

The FTC launched TakeItDown.ftc.gov for people to report platforms that fail to remove content within 48 hours of a valid request, or where you can’t find a removal process at all. As of September 2026, the FTC’s consumer alert points people there.

A platform’s failure to reasonably comply is treated as a violation of an FTC rule on unfair or deceptive practices, which means the FTC can seek civil penalties. The FTC acts against platforms, though, not on individual posts, so keep using the other routes while you wait: report again, use hashing tools, ask Google to remove the page from search, and send a request to the site’s host if the site itself won’t respond.

Reporting the person who posted it

Publishing intimate images without consent, or threatening to, can be a federal crime under the Act, alongside many state laws. The Act sets maximum prison terms of up to two years for offenses involving adults and up to three years where the person shown is a minor, with separate penalties for threats, plus forfeiture and restitution.

The FTC’s consumer guidance says to report these crimes to local law enforcement and to the FBI at tips.fbi.gov or 1-800-CALL-FBI. If someone is demanding money or more images, see our sextortion help guide: don’t pay, stop replying and save the evidence.

What the law doesn’t do

• It doesn’t cover every site. Email, broadband providers and sites that mainly publish their own content aren’t covered platforms.
• It doesn’t make every platform fast in practice. The 48-hour rule is a legal duty, but some platforms, especially overseas ones, may be slow or unresponsive.
• It doesn’t remove search results by itself. Google’s own removal process for explicit images is a separate request.
• It isn’t the only law. Many states have their own laws on nonconsensual intimate images and deepfakes, and other laws may let you sue the person responsible.

For a lawsuit, a protective order or anything involving the person who posted the images, talk to a lawyer. This guide can’t tell you what your options are in your situation. If you don’t know where to start, the support organizations listed on our help and support resources page, such as the Cyber Civil Rights Initiative’s helpline, offer information and referrals.

What not to do

• Don’t contact or confront the person if it could put you at risk. Let the platform, the police or a lawyer deal with them.
• Don’t pay anyone who threatens to post more or who promises certain removal for a fee.
• Don’t share the images, even with friends, to show them what happened. Share the links with platforms and investigators only.
• Don’t send fake or exaggerated claims. A clear, accurate request is the one that gets acted on.

If you’d like help with the removal requests and search results, our content removal team handles this work confidentially. We can’t promise any platform’s decision, but we can make sure each request is complete and followed up.

Frequently asked questions

Does the TAKE IT DOWN Act cover deepfakes?

Yes. The Act covers “digital forgeries”, meaning intimate images created or altered with AI or other technology that a reasonable person would find indistinguishable from a real image of the person. Platforms must remove them on a valid request, just like real images.

How long do platforms have to remove the images?

A covered platform must remove the image as soon as possible and no later than 48 hours after receiving a valid request, and make reasonable efforts to remove known identical copies. Platforms had until May 19, 2026, to set up their removal process.

Who enforces the TAKE IT DOWN Act?

The Federal Trade Commission enforces the platform removal requirements and began doing so on May 19, 2026. You can report a platform that ignores a valid request at TakeItDown.ftc.gov. The criminal provisions are handled by law enforcement, so report the person to local police and the FBI.

Can someone else send the removal request for me?

Yes. The Act allows an authorized person acting on your behalf, such as a parent, lawyer or trusted adviser, to submit the request. It still needs a signature, the location of the image, a good-faith statement and contact details.

Is NCMEC's Take It Down the same as the TAKE IT DOWN Act?

No. Take It Down is a free NCMEC service that uses hashes to help platforms block images of people who were under 18 when the images were taken. The TAKE IT DOWN Act is a federal law. You can use both at the same time.