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Bexar County leaders tout new federal law to protect most vulnerable from revenge porn

Take It Down Act signed by President Donald Trump as on May 19, 2025

BEXAR COUNTY, Texas – Leaders in Bexar County are feeling motivated after a new federal law was signed that would add a layer of protection to help the most vulnerable in the community fight against revenge porn.

The law, referred to as the Take It Down Act, was signed by President Donald Trump alongside his wife, First Lady Melania Trump, on May 19, 2025.

It is actually an acronym for “Tools to Address Known Exploitation by Immobilizing Technological Deepfakes on Websites and Networks.”

Sheriff Javier Salazar with the Bexar County Sheriff’s Office said it is a crime perpetrators commit on a local level every other week.

“I am either demanding money in exchange for this or I am demanding more explicit pictures or videos, and in exchange, I will be putting this out to your friends your family, your friends, people on your platform,” Salazar said. “Your school. Basically, your life is ruined. Unless you submit to my demands.”

“This causes a lot of suffering and shame and trauma, and nobody should go through something like this,” said Patricia Castillo with the PEACE Initiative, a nonprofit that helps abuse survivors in the community. “Victims that are subject to this crime have to deal with that impact, so they need to talk to people. Console in someone for some kind of help. That’s where we come in.”

Due to the nature of having intimate images spread on the internet, Castillo said victims can feel a sense of isolation and hopelessness.

“It is very hard for survivors to hear, ‘I’m sorry, but there is nothing we can do.’ They don’t want to feel isolated, alone and left out to dry,” Castillo said. “Hopefully, this law will give them an option.”

She said this could happen to anyone.

“This is a private thing we are sharing for our intimacy, and then when the relationship goes sour and the victim wants to leave, then the images are used against them. They are weaponized against them. You need to come back (and) send me money. To get (the) ID of them. Those kind(s) of threats are very alarming and scary, and victims are terrorized,” she said.

Castillo believes this problem has grown because most are reluctant to go to the police due to embarrassment.

“Most of them are reluctant who don’t want together police involved out of embarrassment or shame, and this (is) why this has flourished,” she said. “Because up to now, we haven’t held people accountable for this kind of behavior. And when we don’t hold people accountable, the message is that I can do this and get away with it.”

She also mentioned an alarming fact that often goes unnoticed.

“When this happens to young men or boys,” she said. “They are much more likely to reach for the weapon and kill themselves because they don’t know how to deal with the stress of that.”

Sadly, this crime is just another tool in the world of abuse.

“This could become a setup for further abuse,” Castillo said. “Another level of abuse for you. At all costs, don’t share these kind of images with people you don’t know, or people you know only by phone or social media, because once they are out there, you have lost control of these images.”

She is grateful for the Trump administration’s efforts to implement the law.

It essentially prohibits the non-consensual online publication of intimate images, including deepfakes. It also mandates that certain online platforms remove such images within 48 hours of receiving a valid removal request.

A valid removal request is laid out in the bill:

“The notification must be in writing and include “an identification of, and information reasonably sufficient for the covered platform to locate,” the depiction; “a brief statement” of the individual’s “good faith belief” that the published depiction “is not consensual,” including any relevant information for the covered platform to verify the lack of consent; and the signature of and contact information for the identifiable individual or their representative.”

A victim can now directly contact the online platform.

Salazar said this also helps them in their investigations.

“Should anybody so much as make a threat of unveiling, sharing or posting any of this content. Even the threat of that could open you up to this liability,” he said. “What can a person face if they partake in this crime? “In addition to any civil penalties and fines … a lengthy prison sentence could also be attached to it.”

Here are some steps to take if you are threatened in this situation:

  • File a police report
  • Never give money
  • Block the offender
  • Get counseling