A new bill called the Take It Down Act is being supported by Sen. Ted Cruz and other lawmakers after a troubling case involving a 14-year-old girl. The bill aims to fight digital sexual abuse, sparked by the story of Francesca Mani. On "60 Minutes," she shared how her photo was altered into a nude image on a "nudify" website without her consent. The legislation seeks to address the growing issue of AI-generated non-consensual pornography, according to CBS News.
Schools are now facing a new kind of threat with websites like Clothoff, which has more than 3 million visits last month alone. As reported by CBS News, these platforms offer disturbingly realistic 'nude' images from clothed photos. Despite these sites claiming that the "processing of minors is impossible," Mani, along with several other girls, were victimized as their photos were turned into nude images, and shared among their peers in Westfield High School, New Jersey.
The way Mani discovered what had been done to her photo compounded her distress. "I feel like that was a major violation of our privacy while, like, the bad actors were taken out of their classes privately," she told CBS News. Despite the school's claim that the images have been deleted and are not being circulated, Mani's mother, Dorota, remains understandably skeptical. "Who printed? Who screenshotted? Who downloaded? You can't really wipe it out," Dorota Mani told CBS News.
The Take It Down Act makes it illegal to post sexually explicit content, including AI-generated images, without consent. It also requires websites to remove such content within 48 hours. The bill has passed the Senate and now needs to be approved by the House before the end of the year. Victims of deepfake abuse are pushing for this law, along with other changes to protect people from harmful AI misuse, as stated by KHOU.
