NATIONAL NEWS

Trump, alongside the first lady, will sign a bill to make posting ‘revenge porn’ a federal crime

May 19, 2025, 12:05 PM | Updated: 5:34 pm

President Donald Trump, right, watches as first lady Melania Trump speaks at an event for Military ...

President Donald Trump, right, watches as first lady Melania Trump speaks at an event for Military Mothers, Thursday, May 8, 2025, in the East Room of the White House in Washington. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)
Credit: ASSOCIATED PRESS

(AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump and his wife, Melania, on Monday were hosting a signing ceremony for the Take It Down Act, a measure the first lady helped usher through Congress to set stricter penalties for the distribution of non-consensual intimate imagery online, or “revenge porn.”

In March, Melania Trump used her first public appearance since resuming the role of first lady to travel to Capitol Hill to lobby House members to pass the bill following its approval by the Senate.

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters earlier Monday that the first lady was “instrumental in getting this important legislation passed.”

The bill makes it a federal crime to “knowingly publish” or threaten to publish intimate images without a person’s consent, including AI-created “deepfakes.” Websites and social media companies will be required to remove such material within 48 hours after a victim requests it. The platforms must also take steps to delete duplicate content.

Many states have already banned the dissemination of sexually explicit deepfakes or revenge porn, but the Take It Down Act is a rare example of federal regulators imposing on internet companies.

The bill, sponsored by Sens. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, and Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., received overwhelming bipartisan support in Congress, passing the House in April by a 409-2 vote and clearing the Senate by unanimous consent.

But the measure isn’t without critics. Free speech advocates and digital rights groups say the bill is too broad and could lead to censorship of legitimate images, including legal pornography and LGBTQ content. Others say it could allow the government to monitor private communications and undermine due process.

The first lady appeared at a Capitol Hill roundtable with lawmakers and young women who had explicit images of them put online, saying it was “heartbreaking” to see what teenagers and especially girls go through after this happens to them. She also included a victim among her guests for the president’s address to a joint session of Congress the day after that meeting.

After the House passed the bill, Melania Trump called the bipartisan vote a “powerful statement that we stand united in protecting the dignity, privacy and safety of our children.”

Her advocacy for the bill is a continuation of the Be Best campaign she started in the president’s first term, focusing on children’s well-being, social media use and opioid abuse.

In his speech to Congress in March, the president said the publication of such imagery online is “just terrible” and that he looked forward to signing the bill into law.

“And I’m going to use that bill for myself, too, if you don’t mind,” he said. “There’s nobody who gets treated worse than I do online. Nobody.”

National News

FILE - EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin attends a Make America Healthy Again (MAHA) Commission Event in...

Associated Press

EPA says Trump’s big bill should help in its fight to freeze billions in green bank funds

WASHINGTON (AP) — The sprawling tax and policy bill that passed Congress repeals a multibillion-dollar green bank for financing climate-friendly projects, and the Trump administration should be allowed to freeze its funding and cancel related contracts with nonprofits, federal officials said in a court filing. Climate United Fund and other nonprofits in March sued the […]

26 minutes ago

Associated Press

Trump is expected to sign his huge bill of tax and spending cuts at the White House July 4 picnic

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump is expected to sign his package of tax breaks and spending cuts into law Friday after his cajoling produced almost unanimous Republican support in Congress for the domestic priority that could cement his second-term legacy. Against odds that at times seemed improbable, Trump achieved his goal of celebrating a […]

2 hours ago

Associated Press

At least 3 dead in New Jersey after strong thunderstorms sweep through the Northeast

PLAINFIELD, NJ (AP) — Some residents in the Northeast were spending their July Fourth holiday cleaning up from strong thunderstorms that swept through the region Thursday night, bringing heavy rain, wind and hail. The storms are being blamed for at least three deaths in central New Jersey, including two men in Plainfield who died after […]

2 hours ago

President Donald Trump dances after speaking at a rally at the Iowa State Fairgrounds, Thursday, Ju...

Associated Press

Trump said he didn’t know an offensive term he used in a speech is considered antisemitic

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump says he didn’t know the term “shylock” is considered antisemitic when he used it in a speech to describe unscrupulous moneylenders. Trump told reporters early Friday after returning from an event in Iowa that he had “never heard it that way” and “never heard that” the term was considered […]

5 hours ago

Associated Press

Officials find the body of a woman who got off a cruise ship in Alaska to hike and didn’t return

JUNEAU, Alaska (AP) — Authorities say they have found the body of a woman visiting Alaska’s capital city who did not return to her cruise ship from a hike she said she was taking. The Alaska Department of Public Safety said the body of 62-year-old Marites Buenafe of Kentucky was found by an Alaska Army […]

5 hours ago

Fireworks light up the St. Louis skyline and the Gateway Arch on Thursday, July 3, 2025, in St. Lou...

Associated Press

What’s open and closed on July Fourth

The Fourth of July holiday, also known as Independence Day, celebrates the Second Continental Congress’ unanimous adoption of the Declaration of Independence on July 4, 1776. A year later, according to the Library of Congress, a spontaneous celebration in Philadelphia marked the anniversary of American independence. But observations weren’t commonplace until after the War of […]

9 hours ago

Trump, alongside the first lady, will sign a bill to make posting ‘revenge porn’ a federal crime