It appears that even in this highly politicized and divided climate, there still are issues that both Republicans and Democrats can almost uniformly agree on.
And one of those rare points of agreement is that pornography should never be weaponized, and that victims should be protected.
According to political news outlet The Hill, New York Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez — often seen bitterly fighting with Republicans — has reintroduced legislation that would give potential victims of deepfake pornography generated by artificial intelligence the option to pursue legal recourse.
Ocasio-Cortez’s bill, reintroduced Wednesday, would give those victims the chance to pursue a civil suit against anyone caught making or distributing the deepfake.
(A “deepfake” is when the face of someone, typically of a famous person, is superimposed in believable fashion onto another person’s body, often to portray the original person in some sort of compromising position they normally wouldn’t have been a part of.)
Dubbed the DEFIANCE (‘Disrupt Explicit Forged Images and Non-Consensual Edits) Act, the bill seeks to protect “profoundly harmed” victims of deepfakes.
“Victims of nonconsensual pornographic deepfakes have waited too long for federal legislation to hold perpetrators accountable. As deepfakes become easier to access and create — 96% of deepfake videos circulating online are nonconsensual pornography — Congress needs to act to show victims that they won’t be left behind,” Ocasio-Cortez said via statement when the bill was first introduced in 2024.
“The DEFIANCE Act will allow victims to finally defend their reputations and take civil action against individuals who produced, distributed, or received digital forgeries,” she added. “I’m grateful to lead this legislation with Senator Dick Durbin, along with my Democratic and Republican colleagues in both the House and Senate.”
The bill is co-led by a divergent quartet when it comes to ideologies.
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Apart from Ocasio-Cortez, Democrat Sens. Dick Durbin of Illinois and Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota, as well as Republican Sens. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina and Josh Hawley of Missouri have helped co-lead this legislature.
“We’ve struck a remarkable bipartisan note this Congress on protecting Americans — especially children — from exploitation online,” Durbin noted.
“The deepfakes may not be real, but they cause very real harms,” Durbin added. “It’s time to return power to the victims and give them a tool to demand justice from those responsible for these horrific images.”
The reintroduction of the DEFIANCE Act comes shortly after a separate porn-related bill almost unanimously passed the House.
In April, the Tools to Address Known Exploitation by Immobilizing Technological Deepfakes on Websites and Networks, or “Take It Down” Act, passed the House 409-2.
“Take It Down” was signed into law — by President Donald Trump, as well as major bill champion and first lady Melania Trump — on May 19.
First lady Melania Trump says the “Take It Down Act,” which criminalizes nonconsensual sharing of sexually explicit content and AI-generated deepfakes, is a “national victory that will help parents and families protect children from online exploitation.” https://t.co/1N2V1FHBtf pic.twitter.com/de3t9ec5yS
— ABC News (@ABC) May 19, 2025
The Trump-signed bill more broadly protects victims of the non-consensual distribution of pornography.
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