President Trump signed the “Take It Down Act” on Monday, federally criminalizing the distribution of nonconsensual intimate photos and deepfake porn online in legislation championed by First Lady Melania Trump.

“This legislation is a powerful step forward in our efforts to ensure that every American, especially young people, can feel better protected from their image or identity being abused through nonconsensual, intimate imagery,” Melania Trump said at the signing ceremony Monday, noting new artificial intelligence and social media technologies can “be deadly.”

The “Take It Down Act,” sponsored by Sens. Ted Cruz and Rep. Maria Elvira Salazar, makes it a federal crime to knowingly publish or threaten to publish explicit images, including those created by AI, without the subject’s consent. Violators who publish the images are eligible for up to two years in prison if the subject is an adult or three years if the subject is a minor.

Under the new legislation, social media and other websites would be required to take down any revenge porn content within 48 hours after it’s reported and make a “reasonable effort” to take down any copies of the image. Online sites would be subject to civil penalties through the Federal Trade Commission.

The bill passed the House with a bipartisan majority of 409-2 in April and made it through the Senate by unanimously.

“With the rise of AI image generation, countless women have been harassed with deepfakes and other explicit images distributed against their will,” said President Trump. “This is wrong, and it’s just so horribly wrong, and it’s a very abusive situation, like in some cases, people have never seen before. And today we’re making it totally illegal.”

During the signing ceremony, the President invited the First Lady to also sign the act ceremonially, saying, “She deserves to sign it.”

Despite the bill’s broad support among the lawmakers, some opponents criticized the bill as too broad, infringing on free speech and potentially leading to the censorship of content like legal pornography.

The act follows up on the first federal action on the subject in 2022, Violence Against Women Act Reauthorization Act, allowing victims to file a federal lawsuits when intimate images are posted without consent.

The legislation also follows similar bills in state Legislatures across the country, including in Massachusetts.

In June 2024, Gov. Healey signed “An Act to prevent abuse and exploitation,” illegalizing revenge porn including computer-generated images in Massachusetts and expanding the criminal harassment statute to prohibit the distribution of sexual images without consent.