Texas AI Law

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TAKE IT DOWN Act Platform Duties Are Now Enforceable

Covered platforms must remove nonconsensual intimate images, including AI forgeries, within 48 hours of a valid request.

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The Tools to Address Known Exploitation by Immobilizing Technological Deepfakes on Websites and Networks Act (TAKE IT DOWN Act), Pub. L. 119-12, signed in May 2025, makes it a federal crime to knowingly publish, or threaten to publish, nonconsensual intimate images or digital forgeries of an identifiable person, with heavier penalties where minors are involved. It also requires covered platforms to provide a process for reporting such images and to remove them within 48 hours of a valid request, with reasonable efforts to remove identical copies. The platform duties became enforceable on May 19, 2026. Congress supplied the enforcement mechanism directly: under section 3(b)(1), a failure to reasonably comply with the notice and takedown duties is treated as a violation of a rule defining an unfair or deceptive act or practice under FTC Act section 18(a)(1)(B), enforceable by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC). The mechanism does not depend on a separate FTC rulemaking.

A covered platform is a public-facing website, online service, online application, or mobile application that primarily provides a forum for user-generated content, or that regularly publishes, curates, hosts, or makes available nonconsensual intimate visual depictions. Broadband internet access providers, electronic mail, and services whose interactive features are incidental to preselected non-user-generated content are excluded. A valid removal request must be in writing and include the requester’s signature, information reasonably sufficient to locate the depiction, a good-faith statement that the depiction is not consensual with supporting information, and contact information. The platform must remove the depiction and make reasonable efforts to remove known identical copies as soon as possible and no later than 48 hours after receiving a valid request.

Texas platforms face a parallel state regime. HB 3133 requires social media platforms to operate complaint systems for explicit deepfake material, to remove reported explicit deepfake material and known identical copies, and to give the reporter a written status update no later than seven days after the report. SB 441 requires website and app owners to remove artificial intimate visual material within 72 hours of a request and to make reasonable efforts to remove known identical copies; violations are deceptive trade practices under Subchapter E, Chapter 17. Both statutes took effect September 1, 2025. A platform serving Texas users should design one intake and removal process that meets the federal 48-hour removal clock while satisfying the Texas 72-hour duty, the identical-copy efforts, and the HB 3133 seven-day status update.

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