President Trump recently signed the Take It Down Act into law—a measure that imposes penalties for online sexual exploitation. First Lady Melania Trump played a significant role in guiding this bill through Congress, even going as far as to sign it for symbolic purposes during the ceremony in the White House Rose Garden.
Despite any reservations she may have had, Melania followed through with her signature, and the President displayed the joint-signed document to the audience in attendance. It should be noted, however, that as a First Lady, Melania’s signature holds no legal weight since she holds no elected office and has no formal role in the signing of legislation.
Several months earlier in March, Melania utilized her first public appearance as First Lady since resuming her role to visit Capitol Hill and personally lobby House members to pass the bill after its previous approval in the Senate. During the signing ceremony, she hailed the legislation as a “national victory” in the fight against child exploitation, including the use of technology to create fraudulent images.
The President echoed these sentiments, noting that the proliferation of artificial intelligence-generated images has led to the distressing harassment of countless women through “deepfakes” and other content distributed without consent. He expressed his strong belief that such actions are “horribly wrong” and vowed to make it a crime under the new statute.
Websites and social media companies will be obligated to remove such content within 48 hours of a victim’s request, and delete any duplicate material. This is a rare instance of federal regulators imposing such requirements on internet companies, as many states have already taken steps to ban the distribution of explicit deepfakes.
The Take It Down Act, sponsored by Senator Ted Cruz and Congresswoman Maria Elvira Salazar, both Republicans, garnered significant bipartisan support, receiving near-unanimous approval from both the House of Representatives and the Senate. However, the measure is not without its detractors, with free speech advocates and digital rights groups expressing concern about potential overreach and the possibility of censorship.
Moreover, there are concerns that the legislation could lead to the monitoring of private communications and undermine due process. Nevertheless, at the signing ceremony, Melania highlighted the emotional toll that such violations can take on victims, particularly young women and girls, adding to her ongoing advocacy against the misuse of social media and its impact on children’s well-being.
The President also commented wryly that he intends to leverage the bill personally, given the level of negative attention he experience online.
Source: https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/may/19/trump-take-it-down-act-bill
