Kean, Morelle Introduce Bipartisan Legislation to Combat Harmful Deepfake Pornography

(March 7, 2025) WASHINGTON, DC - Yesterday, Congressmen Tom Kean, Jr. (NJ-07) and Joe Morelle (NY-25) introduced the Preventing Deepfakes of Intimate Images Act- bipartisan legislation that would create both criminal and civil penalties for those who create and post non-consensual deepfakes on social media.

"Artificial intelligence is advancing faster than the necessary guardrails, making it easier for deepfake technology to be used explicitly and disruptively," said Congressman Kean. "One victim of deepfake pornography is one too many. We must ensure there are serious consequences for the perpetrators. Addressing AI is a bipartisan issue, and I am proud to co-lead this bill with Congressman Morelle and look forward to working together to get it across the finish line-protecting young girls, women, and all victims of deepfakes."

"AI-generated deepfakes have created a disturbing new avenue for harassment, abuse, and misinformation-causing real-world harm with devastating consequences. Women are disproportionately targeted by this technology, yet there are too few protections in place to defend them from exploitation," said Congressman Joe Morelle. "I'm proud to be reintroducing the bipartisan Preventing Deepfakes of Intimate Images Actto help us close those gaps and establish necessary safeguards to combat the growing misuse of deepfake technology. I'm grateful to my colleague Rep. Kean for joining me in supporting this critical legislation, and I look forward to working with him to pass this common-sense, long-overdue legislation into law."

With advancements in technology and artificial intelligence has come the emergence of "deepfakes"-digitally altered images that use an individual's likeness mapped onto a photo or video of someone else. A 2023 studyfound that 98 percent of deepfake videos online were pornographic in content and 99 percent of them targeted women. While the videos are fake, their impacts are very real-and until now, little has been done to provide women with protection or recourse from this disturbing phenomenon.

Additionally, the Preventing Deepfakes of Intimate Images Actwould:

• Prohibit the non-consensual disclosure of digitally altered intimate images and make the sharing of these images a criminal offense;
• Create a private right of action for victims to seek relief;
• Ensure that an individual's consent to create the image does not establish consent for the sharing or disclosure of the image;
• Provide additional protections to preserve a plaintiff's anonymity in civil actions.

To view to full bill text, click HERE.

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