406: The Take It Down Act (Is a Weapon)

Tech Policy Podcast

TechFreedom

Technology

4.8 • 45 Ratings

🗓️ 7 May 2025

⏱️ 56 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Jess Miers (Akron Law) discusses the problems with the Take It Down Act—the federal bill that (ostensibly) targets non-consensual intimate imagery. Topics include: - What does Take It Down (claim) to do? - FFS, enforce the laws you have! - “Sexually explicit content” (in a normal world) - Brendan Carr is a preview of things to come - Amy Klobuchar is asleep - Is the “it” in Take It Down “all adult content”? - The censorship administration Links: Jess’s Bluesky thread on Take It Down (https://tinyurl.com/33ud5xsa) The Take It Down Act Isn’t a law, It’s a Weapon (https://tinyurl.com/yc32xnac) Tech Policy Podcast 403: The Constitutional Crisis (https://tinyurl.com/yujf2p9e) Tech Policy Podcast 404: The Worst Possible Moment to Break Encryption (https://tinyurl.com/bdz48xs7)

Transcript

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0:00.0	The Take It Down Act passed the Senate by unanimous consent,
0:28.9	and it passed the House by a vote of 409 to 2.
0:34.1	At first, blush, those votes might seem to make sense.
0:39.0	The Take It Down Act aims to crack down on non-consensual intimate imagery, including sexually
0:44.8	explicit AI deepfakes and what is colloquially known as revenge porn.
0:51.2	Scratch the surface, however, and these lopsided votes suddenly look like something of a travesty.
0:58.1	All the best civil liberties groups, including EFF, CDT, and, ahem, tech freedom, have come out against the bill.
1:08.8	The Take It Down Act, they, we contend, is going to work primarily
1:14.5	as a censorship tool. The Take It Down Act is poorly designed under any scenario, but the bill is
1:21.8	especially problematic right now under this administration. Quite frankly, the legislators taking a victory lap for passing
1:30.6	this bill have their heads in the sand. As Addie Robertson of the Verge puts it,
1:37.0	Congress can no longer meaningfully claim that what it passes are laws, what it makes now are weapons. Rules Trump and other parties use only
1:47.9	against people they don't like. Welcome back to the Tech Policy Podcast. I'm Corbyn Barthold.
1:58.2	I'm pleased to be joined by Jess Myers, assistant professor of law at the University of Akron School of Law.
2:07.2	I should have had Jess on long before now to talk about Section 230, but she has done fantastic work on Take It Down.
2:15.7	So here she is today, better late than never. Jess, hello.
2:22.7	Hello there. Longtime listener. I'm excited to be here. You know, I want to say I'm excited to talk about this act, but it comes at a time that is particularly concerning and, you know, a low point in our nation.
2:35.4	So, you know, we might as well get into it.
2:38.0	Well, it is good to have you here, even if the occasion is not a one for celebration.
2:45.3	As of this recording, Take It Down, has not been signed into law. I believe that's just a formality. It's supported by
2:55.4	the president. It was supported by Melania Trump, his wife. So this is coming. It's going to be on
3:01.8	the statute books imminently. Why don't you walk us through what the Take It Down Act is?
	...

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