Overview
- Federal regulators started enforcement Tuesday, requiring services that host user posts to delete reported nonconsensual intimate images, including AI deepfakes, within 48 hours or face civil penalties up to $53,088 per miss.
- The FTC said it sent compliance letters to major firms such as Amazon, Alphabet, Meta, Microsoft, TikTok, Snapchat, Reddit, Discord, Bumble, Match Group, Pinterest and X, outlining clear reporting pathways and request tracking for victims.
- Platforms must accept reports from people who do not have accounts and issue a tracking number that victims can share with police, and the removal duty covers known identical copies of the same image or video.
- Civil-liberties groups and online safety experts warn the rapid clock could push companies to over-remove posts and create a tool that bad actors could weaponize to take down lawful speech.
- Analysts say the 48-hour mandate may be hard to meet on decentralized or blockchain-based services where content sits across many nodes, raising open questions about what counts as a good-faith removal effort.