H.R. 3562 — DEFIANCE Act of 2025

This section states nine congressional findings regarding digital forgeries (deepfakes), including their ubiquity and ease of creation; their use to depict individuals in non-consensual sexually intimate conduct (e.g., superimposing faces on nude or sexually active bodies or digitally removing clothing); the profound harms to victims such as privacy violations, loss of control over likeness, social isolation, mental health effects (e.g., depression, anxiety, suicidal ideation), and the "silencing effect"; and their role in harassment, extortion, and other crimes, classifying such non-consensual forgeries as image-based sexual abuse.

This section revises the civil right of action relating to disclosure of intimate images (15 U.S.C. §6851)—originally enacted to allow suits for nonconsensual disclosure of visual depictions showing an identifiable individual's nudity or sexual acts—to also cover intimate digital forgeries (i.e., AI-generated or technologically manipulated intimate visual depictions of an identifiable individual that falsely represent the individual or the intimate conduct and are indistinguishable from authentic depictions by a reasonable person, regardless of labels or context disclaiming authenticity). (1) It inserts "or nonconsensual activity involving digital forgeries" into the section heading; (2) adds definitions for "identifiable individual" (i.e., an individual appearing in an intimate visual depiction or intimate digital forgery who is identifiable by face, likeness, or other features) and "intimate digital forgery," strikes the prior "depicted individual" definition, and modifies related terms including "consent" (adding "competent") and "intimate visual depiction"; and (3) expands subsection (b) to authorize three types of civil actions in federal district court against knowing or reckless violators in interstate commerce—(i) nonconsensual disclosure of intimate visual depictions (updating prior law); (ii) production/possession with intent to disclose, disclosure, or solicitation/receipt of intimate digital forgeries without consent; and (iii) production of intimate digital forgeries without consent that harms or foreseeably harms the individual—while broadening available injunctive relief, damages, and attorney fees to encompass digital forgeries and updating standing for minors, incompetents, incapacitated persons, and estates. (Thus, victims of deepfake pornography gain federal recourse against creators, possessors, sharers, and solicitors even prior to disclosure if intent or harm is shown.)

This section (1) establishes a severability clause stating that if any provision of the Act or its amendments, or its application to any person or circumstance, is held unconstitutional, the remainder of the Act and its amendments, and the application of the unconstitutional provision to other persons or circumstances, are unaffected; and (2) states that nothing in the Act or its amendments limits or expands any intellectual property law.