In his address to Congress, President Trump touted the Tools to Address Known Exploitation by Immobilizing Technological Deepfakes on Websites and Networks (TAKE IT DOWN) Act, a bill designed to prevent the unauthorized publication and sharing of non-consensual intimate images, including those artificially generated, that has already passed unanimously out of the Senate. In new insight, Director of Technology and Innovation Policy Jeffrey Westling explains why the bill’s current language could result in the silencing of legitimate speech and threaten key protections for online users such as end-to-end encryption.

He concludes:

The TAKE IT DOWN Act could soon become law, but concerns regarding the bill’s broad language persist. As the House considers the legislation, it should look to clarify language to ensure that while the bill can protect the victims of  non-consensual intimate visual depictions, it does not incentivize platforms to over-remove legitimate content or abridge key privacy features such as end-to-end encryption out of a fear of potential liability.

Read the analysis.