FTC Can Fine Platforms $53,088 Per Deepfake Left Up After 48 Hours — Starting Today - Tech Times
The Take It Down Act now allows the FTC to fine platforms $53,088 per deepfake or nonconsensual intimate image left up after 48 hours, marking a new era of platform accountability.
- Incident date
- May 2026
- Target
- Elliston Berry
Federal enforcement of the Take It Down Act reached its first operational milestone on May 19, 2026, enabling the FTC to fine platforms for failing to remove nonconsensual intimate images, including deepfakes, within 48 hours of a removal request. This shift transforms the statute into a compliance regime with measurable deadlines and significant civil penalties.
What happened
Under the Take It Down Act, any person depicted in a nonconsensual intimate image, including an AI-generated deepfake, can file a removal request with covered platforms, which include social media services, messaging apps, image hosts, and gaming platforms. Platforms must establish a removal request mechanism accessible without requiring an account and must remove the reported content and all known identical copies within 48 hours of a valid request. The FTC can fine companies $53,088 per violation for non-compliance. The case of Elliston Berry, a 14-year-old victim of deepfake imagery, played a role in the bill's passage.