Some generative image and video models can create non-consensual intimate imagery (NCII), imitating real people. Protecting victims of these heinous privacy invasions is a legitimate goal. But good intentions are not enough to make good policy. The TAKE IT DOWN act, passed in 2025, for example, creates a notice-and-takedown system that threatens free expression, user privacy, and due process, without meaningfully addressing the problem it was crafted to solve.

48 states have specific laws criminalizing the distribution of NCII, in addition to long-existing defamation, harassment, and extortion statutes. Congress can and should build on that foundation. But policymakers must steer clear of efforts to distort and expand existing laws to create a property right in “replicas” that will stymie satire and other lawful speech.

EFF will keep pushing for approaches that meaningfully address harm.