This is general information, not legal advice. The law is new and how it applies to sold content is unsettled. Talk to a lawyer about your situation.
The short version
- The TAKE IT DOWN Act is a US federal law, signed on 19 May 2025.
- It makes knowingly publishing nonconsensual intimate images a crime, under conditions, and requires covered platforms to remove them within 48 hours of a valid request.
- The FTC has enforced the platform rules since 19 May 2026.
- Whether it covers paid content that was leaked, rather than content never meant to be shared, is unsettled.
What the Act requires of platforms
A “covered platform” is broadly a public website, app or online service that mainly hosts user-generated content. It must give people a way to request removal of an intimate image published without their consent. A valid request includes:
- a physical or electronic signature from the person shown, or someone authorised to act for them;
- enough information for the platform to find the image;
- a brief statement of good-faith belief that the image is not consensual; and
- contact information.
On a valid request the platform must remove the image as soon as possible and within 48 hours, and make reasonable efforts to remove known identical copies.
FTC enforcement since 19 May 2026
The FTC enforces the platform requirements. It began enforcing on 19 May 2026, launched TakeItDown.ftc.gov for reporting platforms that don’t act on valid requests or don’t offer a request process, and wrote to 15 major platforms reminding them of their obligations (FTC press release).
Does it cover leaked paid content?
This is the open question, and there are arguments both ways.
- Against: for the criminal offence involving authentic images of adults, one condition is that what is depicted “was not voluntarily exposed by the identifiable individual in a public or commercial setting”. Content sold to subscribers was shared in a commercial setting.
- For: the Act also says that consenting to the creation of an image does not establish consent to its publication, and that sharing an image with another person does not establish consent to that person publishing it. A fan who bought a copy did not get consent to post it.
How courts, the FTC and platforms will apply this to redistributed paid content isn’t settled. Don’t assume a TAKE IT DOWN request will work where a copyright notice would, or the other way round. Get legal advice before relying on it.
Copyright still works
Whatever the Act turns out to cover, you own the copyright in content you made. DMCA notices rest on that, not on consent, and work regardless of how the content was first shared. See our DMCA guide and DMCA vs attribution.
Where Trace fits
Trace doesn’t file TAKE IT DOWN requests or DMCA notices, and it isn’t legal advice. If your content was marked, it can show that a leaked copy is the one delivered to a particular account, with an evidence pack you can give to a lawyer, a platform or a takedown service. For what to do in order, see what to do when a paying fan leaks your content.
Bring evidence, whichever route you take
Mark each fan’s copy with Trace, so a leak comes with a record of whose copy it was. Free for 3 fans and 2 marked drops a month, with 1 traced leak. Pro is $39/mo with a 14-day free trial.
Sources: FTC, “FTC begins enforcing TAKE IT DOWN Act”; text of S. 146, govinfo.gov (Public Law 119-12); checked 25 Oct 2026.