Ocasio-Cortez co-led the reintroduction of the bill with Rep. Laurel Lee (R-Fla.) in the House and Sens. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) and Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) in the upper chamber.
The legislation, titled The Disrupt Explicit Forged Images and Non-Consensual Edits (DEFIANCE) Act, would give survivors and victims of nonconsensual deepfake pornography the “legal right to pursue justice,” Ocasio-Cortez said in a statement.
The bill would allow pursuing civil action against individuals who create, distribute or possess with the intent to spread such deepfakes.
“Although the imagery may be fake, the harm to the victims is very real,” Durbin said in a statement Wednesday. “Victims have lost their jobs, their reputations, and many have suffered from life-altering depression or anxiety.”
It comes on the heels of President Trump’s signing of the Take It Down Act on Monday, which criminalized the publication of nonconsensual deepfake imagery.
The Take It Down Act further requires websites to take down the content without 48 hours and make “reasonable efforts” to remove duplicate images.
The DEFIANCE Act aims to build upon the progress of the Take it Down Act by focusing on civil recourse and “complement” one another, Lee said.
Read more in a report at TheHill.com.
