What happened
FTC Chairman Andrew Ferguson sent letters to major platforms on May 15, 2026, detailing enforcement of the Take It Down Act's 48-hour takedown requirement for nonconsensual intimate imagery and AI-generated deepfakes, effective May 19, 2026. The commission set maximum civil penalties of $53,088 per violation and outlined requirements for accessible reporting mechanisms, victim notification, and hashing technologies to prevent content reappearance.
Why it matters
This is the first comprehensive federal enforcement scheme for nonconsensual AI-generated content, backed by White House priorities and bipartisan support. The penalty structure creates strong incentive for platforms to remove flagged content by default, potentially enabling bad-faith abuse for content suppression. Covered platforms include social media, image/video sharing, gaming platforms, and any service that 'routinely publishes, curates, hosts, or makes available' NCII.
Action needed
Covered platforms must verify compliant notice-and-takedown systems are operational by May 19, ensure reporting processes work for users without accounts, display removal policies in plain language, and implement hashing or similar technologies to prevent reappearance of previously removed content. Consider sharing hashes with NCMEC and StopNCII.org.