DEFIANCE Act of 2025
Officially: “DEFIANCE Act of 2025” Read the full text
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1Short title
This section would let the Act be called the Disrupt Explicit Forged Images And Non-Consensual Edits Act of 2025, or the DEFIANCE Act of 2025.
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1. Short title This Act may be cited as the Disrupt Explicit Forged Images And Non-Consensual Edits Act of 2025 or the DEFIANCE Act of 2025 .
2Findings
Congress states a series of findings about digital forgeries, often called deepfakes. Digital forgeries are realistic-looking synthetic images and videos, and the technology to make them is now widely available through many apps that require no technical skill to use. Digital forgeries can be entirely made up, or they can manipulate images of real people to show sexual conduct that did not happen, for example by pasting a person's face onto a nude or sexually active body, or by digitally removing a person's clothing so the person appears nude. People shown in these forgeries are deeply harmed when the content is produced with intent to disclose it, is disclosed, or is obtained without their consent, and labeling the content as fake does not lessen this harm. Being depicted this way against one's will is destabilizing because it violates the person's privacy and takes away the person's control over their own likeness and identity. Victims can feel helpless because they often cannot determine who created the content and do not know how to stop further disclosure or prevent more forgeries from being made. Victims may fear being seen in public out of concern that people they meet have seen the forgeries, which can lead to loss of trust, stigma, and isolation. Victims of non-consensual, sexually intimate digital forgeries may experience depression, anxiety, and suicidal ideation, and may withdraw from online spaces and public discourse to avoid further abuse. Digital forgeries are often used to harass victims in ways that interfere with their employment, education, reputation, or sense of safety, or to commit extortion, sexual assault, domestic violence, and other crimes. Because of these harms, Congress considers non-consensual, sexually intimate digital forgeries to be a form of image-based sexual abuse.
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2. Findings Congress finds the following: (1) Digital forgeries, often called deepfakes, are synthetic images and videos that look realistic. The technology to create digital forgeries is now ubiquitous and easy to use. Hundreds of apps are available that can quickly generate digital forgeries without the need for any technical expertise. (2) Digital forgeries can be wholly fictitious but can also manipulate images of real people to depict sexually intimate conduct that did not occur. For example, some digital forgeries will paste the face of an individual onto the body of a real or fictitious individual who is nude or who is engaging in sexual activity. Another example is a photograph of an individual that is manipulated to digitally remove the clothing of the individual so that the person appears to be nude. (3) The individuals depicted in such digital forgeries are profoundly harmed when the content is produced with intent to disclose, disclosed, or obtained without the consent of those individuals. These harms are not mitigated through labels or other information that indicates that the depiction is fake. (4) It can be destabilizing to victims whenever those victims are depicted in intimate digital forgeries against their will, as the privacy of those victims is violated and the victims lose control over their likeness and identity. (5) Victims can feel helpless because the victims— (A) may not be able to determine who has created the content; and (B) do not know how to prevent further disclosure of the intimate digital forgery or how to prevent more forgeries from being made. (6) Victims may be fearful of being in public out of concern that individuals the victims encounter have seen the digital forgeries. This leads to social rupture through the loss of the ability to trust, stigmatization, and isolation. (7) Victims of non-consensual, sexually intimate digital forgeries may experience depression, anxiety, and suicidal ideation. These victims may also experience the silencing effect in which the victims withdraw from online spaces and public discourse to avoid further abuse. (8) Digital forgeries are often used to— (A) harass victims, interfering with their employment, education, reputation, or sense of safety; or (B) commit extortion, sexual assault, domestic violence, and other crimes. (9) Because of the harms caused by non-consensual, sexually intimate digital forgeries, such digital forgeries are considered to be a form of image-based sexual abuse.
3Civil action relating to disclosure of intimate images
This section would change the definitions and the civil lawsuit rules in the existing federal law on non-consensual disclosure of intimate images (section 1309 of the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2022, at 15 U.S.C. 6851), so that the law also covers intimate digital forgeries and not just real images.
Definitions. The section's official heading would be updated to also mention non-consensual activity involving digital forgeries. In paragraph (2) of the definitions, the word "competent," would be inserted after the word "conscious,"; this text does not show the rest of paragraph (2), so what that paragraph defines and how the added word changes it are not shown here. One existing definition currently numbered paragraph (3) would be removed; this text does not show what it covered. Two new definitions would be added. "Identifiable individual" would mean a person whose body appears in whole or in part in an intimate visual depiction or intimate digital forgery, and who can be identified by face, likeness, another distinguishing feature such as a birthmark, or information displayed along with the depiction. "Intimate digital forgery" would mean an intimate visual depiction of an identifiable individual that meets all three of these conditions: it falsely represents the identifiable individual, or falsely represents the conduct or content that makes the depiction intimate; it was created using software, machine learning, artificial intelligence, or other computer-generated or technological means, including by adapting, modifying, manipulating, or altering a real depiction; and it looks indistinguishable from a real depiction of that individual to a reasonable person viewing it as a whole. A depiction that meets these three conditions would still count as an intimate digital forgery even if it carries a label, disclosed information, or surrounding context stating or implying that it is not authentic. Separately, an existing list elsewhere in the definitions that describes what qualifies as this kind of depiction would be expanded to also include a depiction of an identifiable individual engaging in sexually explicit conduct; one item on that same list would be removed, though this text does not show what it covered.
Civil action. This section would replace the main cause-of-action paragraph with three separate rights to sue, each subject to an exception described elsewhere in the law that this text does not show. First, an identifiable individual whose intimate visual depiction is disclosed in a way connected to interstate or foreign commerce, without the individual's consent, by a person who knew or recklessly disregarded that lack of consent, could sue that person. Second, an identifiable individual who is the subject of an intimate digital forgery could sue any person who knowingly produced or possessed the forgery with intent to disclose it, knowingly disclosed it, or knowingly solicited and received it, if all of the following are true: the individual did not consent to that production, possession, disclosure, solicitation, or receipt; the person knew or recklessly disregarded that lack of consent; and the conduct is connected to interstate or foreign commerce. Third, an identifiable individual who is the subject of an intimate digital forgery could separately sue any person who knowingly produced the forgery, if all of the following are true: the individual did not consent to the production; the person knew or recklessly disregarded both that the individual did not consent and that the individual was harmed, or was reasonably likely to be harmed, by the production; and the production is connected to interstate or foreign commerce. In any of these three lawsuits, if the identifiable individual is under 18 years of age, incompetent, incapacitated, or deceased, the individual's legal guardian could bring or pursue the case on the individual's behalf. A related paragraph elsewhere in the civil action rules would be updated with the same new terms: wherever it referred to an "individual" it would now say "identifiable individual"; wherever it referred to a "depiction" it would now also include an "intimate digital forgery"; and its reference to "distribution" would be broadened to "disclosure, solicitation, or possession."
Relief. A plaintiff who wins could recover damages plus the cost of the lawsuit, including reasonable attorney's fees and other litigation costs reasonably incurred. The court could also award punitive damages, order equitable relief such as a temporary restraining order, a preliminary injunction, or a permanent injunction requiring the defendant to delete, destroy, or stop displaying or disclosing the intimate visual depiction or intimate digital forgery, or both, on top of any other relief already available at law. For damages, the plaintiff could choose between liquidated damages of $150,000 (or $250,000 if the conduct was committed in connection with actual or attempted sexual assault, stalking, or harassment of the plaintiff by the defendant, or was the direct and proximate cause of actual or attempted sexual assault, stalking, or harassment of the plaintiff by any person), or actual damages, which would include any of the defendant's profits attributable to the conduct that are not already counted in the actual damages. To prove the defendant's profits, the plaintiff would only have to show the defendant's gross revenue; the defendant would then have to prove its own deductible expenses and which parts of its profit came from something other than the conduct at issue.
Privacy protections. In a lawsuit under this law, the court could issue an order to protect the plaintiff's privacy, including by letting the plaintiff use a pseudonym, requiring the parties to redact the plaintiff's personal identifying information from public court filings (or file those documents under seal), and issuing a protective order for discovery, which could require that any intimate visual depiction or intimate digital forgery involved in the case stay in the court's care, custody, and control.
Deadline and double-recovery bar. A lawsuit under this law would have to be filed within 10 years of the later of the date the individual reasonably discovers the violation, or the date the individual turns 18; filing after that would be barred. A court could not order relief under this law against a person who has already been ordered to pay a judgment under a separate federal law, section 2255 of title 18, United States Code, for the same conduct, involving the same identifiable individual and the same intimate visual depiction or intimate digital forgery.
State and tribal law. This section would not be read to limit, override, or replace any federal, state, or tribal law. It would also not stop a state or tribal government from adopting or enforcing its own law governing disclosure of intimate images or non-consensual digital-forgery activity, as long as that state or tribal law protects victims' rights at least as much as this Act does.
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3. Civil action relating to disclosure of intimate images (a) Definitions Section 1309 of the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2022 ( 15 U.S.C. 6851 ) is amended— (1) in the section heading, by inserting or nonconsensual activity involving digital forgeries after intimate images ; and (2) in subsection (a)— (A) in paragraph (2), by inserting competent, after conscious, ; (B) by striking paragraph (3); (C) by redesignating paragraph (4) as paragraph (3); (D) by redesignating paragraphs (5) and (6) as paragraphs (6) and (7), respectively; (E) by inserting after paragraph (3) the following: (4) Identifiable individual The term identifiable individual means an individual whose body appears in whole or in part in an intimate visual depiction or intimate digital forgery and who is identifiable by virtue of the individual’s face, likeness, or other distinguishing characteristic, such as a unique birthmark or other recognizable feature, or from information displayed in connection with the intimate visual depiction or intimate digital forgery. (5) Intimate digital forgery (A) In general The term intimate digital forgery means any intimate visual depiction of an identifiable individual that— (i) falsely represents, in whole or in part— (I) the identifiable individual; or (II) the conduct or content that makes the visual depiction intimate; (ii) is created through the use of software, machine learning, artificial intelligence, or any other computer-generated or technological means, including by adapting, modifying, manipulating, or altering an authentic visual depiction; and (iii) is indistinguishable from an authentic visual depiction of the identifiable individual when viewed as a whole by a reasonable person. (B) Labels, disclosure, and context Any visual depiction described in subparagraph (A) constitutes an intimate digital forgery for purposes of this paragraph regardless of whether a label, information disclosed with the visual depiction, or the context or setting in which the visual depiction is disclosed states or implies that the visual depiction is not authentic. ; and (F) in paragraph (6)(A), as so redesignated— (i) in clause (i), by striking or at the end; (ii) in clause (ii)— (I) in subclause (I), by striking individual; and inserting individual; or ; and (II) by striking subclause (III); and (iii) by adding at the end the following: (iii) an identifiable individual engaging in sexually explicit conduct; and . (b) Civil action Section 1309(b) of the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2022 ( 15 U.S.C. 6851(b) ) is amended— (1) in paragraph (1)— (A) by striking subparagraph (A) and inserting the following: (A) In general Except as provided in paragraph (5)— (i) an identifiable individual whose intimate visual depiction is disclosed, in or affecting interstate or foreign commerce or using any means or facility of interstate or foreign commerce, without the consent of the identifiable individual, where such disclosure was made by a person who knows or recklessly disregards that the identifiable individual has not consented to such disclosure, may bring a civil action against that person in an appropriate district court of the United States for relief as set forth in paragraph (3); (ii) an identifiable individual who is the subject of an intimate digital forgery may bring a civil action in an appropriate district court of the United States for relief as set forth in paragraph (3) against any person that knowingly produced or possessed the intimate digital forgery with intent to disclose it, knowingly disclosed the intimate digital forgery, or knowingly solicited and received the intimate digital forgery, if— (I) the identifiable individual did not consent to such production or possession with intent to disclose, disclosure, or solicitation and receipt; (II) the person knew or recklessly disregarded that the identifiable individual did not consent to such production or possession with intent to disclose, disclosure, or solicitation and receipt; and (III) such production or possession with intent to disclose, disclosure, or solicitation and receipt, is in or affects interstate or foreign commerce or uses any means or facility of interstate or foreign commerce; and (iii) an identifiable individual who is the subject of an intimate digital forgery may bring a civil action in an appropriate district court of the United States for relief as set forth in paragraph (3) against any person that knowingly produced the intimate digital forgery if— (I) the identifiable individual did not consent to such production; (II) the person knew or recklessly disregarded that the identifiable individual— (aa) did not consent to such production; and (bb) was harmed, or was reasonably likely to be harmed, by the production; and (III) such production is in or affects interstate or foreign commerce or uses any means or facility of interstate or foreign commerce. ; and (B) in subparagraph (B)— (i) in the subparagraph heading, by inserting identifiable before individuals ; and (ii) by striking an individual who is under 18 years of age, incompetent, incapacitated, or deceased, the legal guardian of the individual and inserting an identifiable individual who is under 18 years of age, incompetent, incapacitated, or deceased, the legal guardian of the identifiable individual ; (2) in paragraph (2)— (A) in subparagraph (A)— (i) by inserting identifiable before individual ; (ii) by striking depiction and inserting intimate visual depiction or intimate digital forgery ; and (iii) by striking distribution and inserting disclosure, solicitation, or possession ; and (B) in subparagraph (B)— (i) by inserting identifiable before individual ; (ii) by inserting or intimate digital forgery after depiction each place it appears; and (iii) by inserting , solicitation, or possession after disclosure ; (3) by redesignating paragraph (4) as paragraph (5); (4) by striking paragraph (3) and inserting the following: (3) Relief (A) In general In a civil action filed under this section, an identifiable individual may recover— (i) damages as provided under subparagraph (C); and (ii) the cost of the action, including reasonable attorney fees and other litigation costs reasonably incurred. (B) Punitive damages and other relief The court may, in addition to any other relief available at law, award punitive damages or order equitable relief, including a temporary restraining order, a preliminary injunction, or a permanent injunction ordering the defendant to delete, destroy, or cease to display or disclose the intimate visual depiction or intimate digital forgery. (C) Damages For purposes of subparagraph (A)(i), the identifiable individual may recover— (i) liquidated damages in the amount of— (I) $150,000; or (II) $250,000 if the conduct at issue in the claim was— (aa) committed in relation to actual or attempted sexual assault, stalking, or harassment of the identifiable individual by the defendant; or (bb) the direct and proximate cause of actual or attempted sexual assault, stalking, or harassment of the identifiable individual by any person; or (ii) actual damages sustained by the individual, which shall include any profits of the defendant that are attributable to the conduct at issue in the claim that are not otherwise taken into account in computing the actual damages. (D) Calculation of defendant’s profit For purposes of subparagraph (C)(ii), to establish the defendant’s profits, the identifiable individual shall be required to present proof only of the gross revenue of the defendant, and the defendant shall be required to prove the deductible expenses of the defendant and the elements of profit attributable to factors other than the conduct at issue in the claim. (4) Preservation of privacy In a civil action filed under this section, the court may issue an order to protect the privacy of a plaintiff, including by— (A) permitting the plaintiff to use a pseudonym; (B) requiring the parties to redact the personal identifying information of the plaintiff from any public filing, or to file such documents under seal; and (C) issuing a protective order for purposes of discovery, which may include an order indicating that any intimate visual depiction or intimate digital forgery shall remain in the care, custody, and control of the court. ; (5) in paragraph (5)(A), as so redesignated— (A) by striking image and inserting visual depiction or intimate digital forgery ; and (B) by striking depicted and inserting identifiable ; and (6) by adding at the end the following: (6) Statute of limitations Any action commenced under this section shall be barred unless the complaint is filed not later than 10 years from the later of— (A) the date on which the identifiable individual reasonably discovers the violation that forms the basis for the claim; or (B) the date on which the identifiable individual reaches 18 years of age. (7) Duplicative recovery barred No relief may be ordered under paragraph (3) against a person who is subject to a judgment under section 2255 of title 18, United States Code, for the same conduct involving the same identifiable individual and the same intimate visual depiction or intimate digital forgery. . (c) Continued applicability of Federal, State, and Tribal law (1) In general This Act shall not be construed to impair, supersede, or limit a provision of Federal, State, or Tribal law. (2) No preemption Nothing in this Act shall prohibit a State or Tribal government from adopting and enforcing a provision of law governing disclosure of intimate images or nonconsensual activity involving an intimate digital forgery, as defined in section 1309(a) of the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2022 ( 15 U.S.C. 6851(a) ), as amended by this Act, that is at least as protective of the rights of a victim as this Act.
4Severability; rule of construction
If any part of this Act, or any amendment it makes, or the way that part or amendment is applied to a particular person or situation, is ever held unconstitutional, the rest of the Act and its amendments, and their application to other people or situations, would still remain in effect. Nothing in this Act, or an amendment it makes, would be read to limit or expand any law dealing with intellectual property.
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4. Severability; rule of construction (a) Severability If any provision of this Act, an amendment made by this Act, or the application of such a provision or amendment to any person or circumstance, is held to be unconstitutional, the remaining provisions of and amendments made by this Act, and the application of the provision or amendment held to be unconstitutional to any other person or circumstance, shall not be affected thereby. (b) Rule of construction Nothing in this Act, or an amendment made by this Act, shall be construed to limit or expand any law pertaining to intellectual property.
Where it is
In the Senate.