Pfluger, Dingell Lead in Calling on Tech Companies to Better Address Deepfake P0rn

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Congressman August Pfluger (TX-11) and Congresswoman Debbie Dingell (MI-06) led a bipartisan group of 24 colleagues in sending letters to seven tech companies requesting information about their policies to address deepfake pornography.

The letters to Google, Apple, X, ByteDance, Snapchat, Microsoft, and Meta ask for answers to specific questions about the companies’ plans to detect deepfake pornography on their platforms, respond to reports of deepfake content, and support users whose images may have been used non-consensually. 

“We are writing to express our serious concern regarding the increasing prevalence of deepfake pornography on the platforms you own, host, and operate. This trend represents a significant threat to the safety of women, who are overwhelmingly targeted by this abuse. We know that gender-based violence and harassment is a persistent issue both in the United States and across the globe, and rapid technological advancements have exacerbated this abuse,” the lawmakers write. “As deepfake technology – content that has been convincingly altered and manipulated to misrepresent someone as doing or saying something they did not actually say – becomes more sophisticated, it has enabled abusers to create and disseminate realistic, non-consensual pornographic content, causing emotional, psychological, and reputational harm. The spread of this content, often with little recourse for victims, underscores the need for stronger and effective protections.”

“The impact of being targeted by deepfake pornography is multifaceted, leading to mental, emotional, and financial harm. Victims often feel isolated and distrustful of those around them, experience mental health symptoms like depression, anxiety, suicide, withdrawal from areas of public life, and potentially lose jobs and job opportunities,” the lawmakers continue. “While many online platforms have banned non-consensual deepfakes, companies have struggled to keep up with how quickly they spread and how easily they are able to override safeguards.”

“This Congress, we have worked in a bipartisan manner to address the growing threat of technology-based abuse. Bipartisan, bicameral legislation, including the TAKE IT DOWN Act, are important tools to empower victims and hold abusers accountable for disseminating deepfake content and non-consensual intimate images,” the lawmakers concluded. “As Congress works to keep up with shifts in technology, Republicans and Democrats will continue to ensure that online platforms do their part to collaborate with lawmakers and protect users from potential abuse.”

The lawmakers requested answers within one month to questions including: 

1. What plans are in place to proactively address the proliferation of deepfake pornography on your platform, and what is the timeline of deployment for those measures?
2. Specifically, please detail the methods that exist on your platform to detect deepfake pornographic content.
3. What individuals or stakeholders, if any, are included in developing these plans?
4. What is the process after a report is made and what kind of oversight exists to ensure that these reports are addressed in a timely manner?
5. How are you working to address the loopholes in company policy that have allowed users to spread deepfake pornography, despite language that prohibits it?
6. What, if any, remedy is available to users who report that their image was nonconsensually used in a deepfake?
7. Are there efforts in place to increase user awareness of these remedies? Including how to protect themselves on the platform?

The letters are signed by Representatives Jake Auchincloss (MA-04), Nikki Budzinski (IL-13), Tony Cárdenas (CA-29), Buddy Carter (GA-01), Sean Casten (IL-06), Don Davis (NC-01), Madeleine Dean (PA-04), Sylvia Garcia (TX-29), Josh Gottheimer (NJ-05), Raúl Grijalva (AZ-07), Diana Harshbarger (TN-01), Hank Johnson (GA-04), Thomas Kean (NJ-07), Nick Langworthy (NY-23), Seth Magaziner (RI-02), Seth Moulton (MA-06), Eleanor Holmes Norton (Del.-DC), Stacey Plaskett (Del. Virgin Islands), Chris Smith (NJ-04), Rashida Tlaib (MI-12), Norma Torres (CA-35), Lori Trahan (MA-03), Randy Weber (TX-14), and Jennifer Wexton (VA-10). 

View the full text of the letters here.