DEFIANCE Act of 2025 (HR 3562 / S.1837) — 119th Congress
Reintroduced following passage of the TAKE IT DOWN Act, which addresses criminal penalties and platform takedowns but does not include a private civil remedy for victims. The DEFIANCE Act fills that gap by giving victims of non-consensual sexually explicit AI-generated deepfakes the right to sue creators and distributors for civil damages — up to $150,000 or $250,000 in aggravated cases. Led by Sen. Dick Durbin and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. Passed the Senate on January 13, 2026. Pending in the House. The earlier 118th Congress version passed the Senate in July 2024 but failed the House.
Linked Incidents
33Incidents this policy has been directly linked to
Female US congresswomen targeted by AI-generated non-consensual intimate imagery leading to legislative response
Pennsylvania high school students create and distribute AI-generated deepfake images of female classmates, prompting state legislative action and federal policy discussions.
60 teenage girls at Lancaster Country Day School subjected to deepfake pornographic content generated from social media and FaceTime photos, leading to lasting trauma and calls for legal protections
60 teenage girls in Pennsylvania school exposed to non-consensual deepfake pornography generated by AI technology
Registered Missouri sex offender promotes AI-generated child pornography
Group of women defrauded of privacy via AI deepfake porn generation using social media photos
Young user exposed to child sex images via Stable Diffusion AI model
13-year-old Texas girl victimized by deepfake nudes advocates for federal digital harm protections
Woman victimized by deepfake pornography suffers emotional distress and dehumanization
42-year-old software engineer distributes AI-generated CSAM via Instagram and Stable Diffusion leading to arrest and potential life sentence
Related Incidents
Same harm domain, actors and location may differ
Punjab Kings cricketer targeted by AI-generated deepfake video leading to reputational harm and public confusion
Adult film actors fann wong and christopher lee defrauded via ai-generated forged images
Veteran actress Yeom Hye Ran defrauded of likeness via unauthorized AI-generated video on YouTube
Renowned South Korean actress has AI deepfake portrait rights violated through unauthorized image generation technology
5 million Abceed users exposed to AI voice cloning fraud risk via misconfigured cloud storage
Related Legislation
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