During his joint address to Congress, US President Donald Trump recognised Elliston Berry, a teen who became the victim of a deepfake pornography scandal after a classmate created a photo of her without clothes using AI.
Trump praised Berry for her courage in speaking out, noting that her advocacy played a key role in helping the Senate pass the Take It Down Act, aimed at addressing the growing issue of illicit deepfake content.
"Hayley Ferguson, who benefited from the First Lady's 'Fostering the Future' initiative and is poised to complete her education, become a teacher. And Elliston Berry, who became a victim of an illicit deep fake image produced by a peer. With Elliston's help, the Senate just passed the Take It Down Act," Trump said.
Berry's ordeal began when a classmate allegedly took a photo from her Instagram account and used artificial intelligence to create a deepfake that made it appear as though she was undressed. The altered image was then circulated on Snapchat.
The rise of deepfake content has been staggering, with a 460% surge in deepfake pornographic videos in 2024, surpassing 21,000 cases-a dramatic increase from the previous year.
In her first solo public engagement since returning to the White House, First Lady Melania Trump endorsed the Take It Down Act, appearing at a roundtable discussion on Capitol Hill. The bill seeks to criminalize the publication of non-consensual sexual imagery, which is often created using inexpensive AI tools.
"In today's AI-driven world, privacy breaches are a serious and growing threat," Melania told the panel, seated alongside two teenage victims of deepfake exploitation.
She called the impact on young victims, particularly teenage girls, "heartbreaking," emphasizing the urgency of addressing the issue to create a safer digital space.
"I hope today's discussion raises awareness about the devastating effects of non-consensual intimate imagery and ultimately leads to the passage of the Take It Down Act in Congress," she added.
What is the Take It Down Act?
Introduced by Senator Ted Cruz of Texas, the Take It Down Act mandates that social media platforms and websites promptly remove non-consensual explicit content, including AI-generated pornography, upon notification from victims.
While the bill has cleared the U.S. Senate, it still awaits approval in the House of Representatives before becoming law.
