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Tools to Address Known Exploitation by Immobilizing Technological Deepfakes on Websites and Networks Act › Section 2 › Proposal

A digital forgery is a machine made image that looks authentic

To require covered platforms to remove nonconsensual intimate visual depictions, and for other purposes, section 2, Sec. 2. Written by .

A digital forgery is a machine made image that looks authentic

The document says “means”Who acts: CongressHow: statuteSec. 2 in the PDF
What the document says

“The term `digital forgery' means any intimate visual depiction of an identifiable individual created through the use of software, machine learning, artificial intelligence, or any other computer-generated or technological means, including by adapting, modifying, manipulating, or altering an authentic visual depiction, that, when viewed as a whole by a reasonable person, is indistinguishable from an authentic visual depiction of the individual.”

To require covered platforms to remove nonconsensual intimate visual depictions, and for other purposes, Sec. 2

The inserted subsection defines digital forgery. It reaches an intimate visual depiction of an identifiable individual made through software, machine learning, artificial intelligence or other computer generated or technological means, including by adapting or altering an authentic depiction, where a reasonable person viewing it as a whole could not tell it from an authentic depiction of that individual.

What the document actually says

“The term `digital forgery' means any intimate visual depiction of an identifiable individual created through the use of software, machine learning, artificial intelligence, or any other computer-generated or technological means, including by adapting, modifying, manipulating, or altering an authentic visual depiction, that, when viewed as a whole by a reasonable person, is indistinguishable from an authentic visual depiction of the individual.”

To require covered platforms to remove nonconsensual intimate visual depictions, and for other purposes, Sec. 2
That sentence, in plain words

A fake image is one a machine made. It looks so real that most people could not tell.

What this is about

The image can be built from nothing. It can also be a real photo that was changed. Either one counts.

No action is recorded against this proposal. That is not evidence that none has been taken, and nobody has yet read it against the record. See what the tracker does not yet cover.

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How to cite this
  1. The document itself

    Tools to Address Known Exploitation by Immobilizing Technological Deepfakes on Websites and Networks Act, Public Law 119-12, sec. 2, 139 Stat. 55 (2025).
    https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/PLAW-119publ12/html/PLAW-119publ12.htm

  2. This page

    “A digital forgery is a machine made image that looks authentic,” Tools to Address Known Exploitation by Immobilizing Technological Deepfakes on Websites and Networks Act, section 2, Sec. 2. Read the Mandate, https://readthemandate.org/tools-address-known-exploitation-by-immobilizing/proposal/sec02-digital-forgery-defined/ (retrieved October 10, 2026).

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