Melania Trump hails first conviction under Take It Down Act |
Melania Trump hails first conviction under Take It Down Act
First lady Melania Trump lauded the first conviction under the Take It Down Act against nonconsensual sexually explicit deepfakes, thanking federal prosecutors for “protecting Americans from cybercrimes in this new digital age.”
A Columbus, Ohio, man pleaded guilty on Tuesday to cybercrimes involving real and AI-generated sexually explicit images, along with violent threats, according to the Justice Department (DOJ).
“Today marks the first conviction under the Take It Down Act – protecting victims from non-consensual AI-generated sexually explicit images, cyberstalking, and threats of violence,” the first lady wrote in an X post. “Thank you U.S. Attorney Dominick S. Gerace II for protecting Americans from cybercrimes in this new digital age.”
It comes just under a year after President Trump signed the Take It Down Act, which criminalized the publication of sexually explicit deepfake images and videos online. The act also requires websites to take down content within 48 hours of hearing from the victim.
The first lady was a vocal supporter of the bill as part of her broader youth initiative focused on combatting issues related to children’s well-being.
Federal prosecutors said James Strahler, the 37-year-old defendant in Tuesday’s plea, installed more than two dozen AI platforms and over 100 AI web-based models on a phone and used texts, calls and online posts to harass victims.
The harassment involved at least six adult female victims who received both real and AI-generated nude images of themselves, according to the DOJ. Strahler also posted obscene AI-generated content of children, using the faces of minor boys in his community, prosecutors added. These hundreds of images and videos were posted to a child sexual abuse website.
“We will not tolerate the abhorrent practice of posting and publicizing AI-generated intimate images of real individuals without consent,” U.S. Attorney Dominick S. Gerace II said in a release. “And we are committed to using every tool at our disposal to hold accountable offenders like Strahler, who seek to intimidate and harass others by creating and circulating this disturbing content.”
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