I 

118TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. R. 7569 

To improve rights to relief for individuals affected by non-consensual activities 

involving intimate digital forgeries, and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

MARCH 6, 2024 

Ms. OCASIO-CORTEZ (for herself, Mr. MIKE GARCIA of California, Ms. MACE, 

Mrs. CHAVEZ-DEREMER, Mr. MILLER of Ohio, Ms. WEXTON, Mr. 

RASKIN, Ms. ROSS, and Mr. LIEU) introduced the following bill; which 

was referred to the Committee on the Judiciary 

A BILL 

To improve rights to relief for individuals affected by nonconsensual activities involving intimate digital forgeries, 

and for other purposes. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Disrupt Explicit 

5 Forged Images And Non-Consensual Edits Act of 2024’’ 

6 or as the ‘‘DEFIANCE Act of 2024’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. CIVIL ACTION RELATING TO DISCLOSURE OF INTI2 MATE IMAGES. 

3 (a) DEFINITIONS.—Section 1309(a) of the Consoli4 dated Appropriations Act, 2022 (15 U.S.C. 6851(a)) is 

5 amended— 

6 (1) in paragraph (2), by inserting ‘‘competent,’’ 

7 after ‘‘conscious,’’; 

8 (2) by redesignating paragraphs (5) and (6) as 

9 paragraphs (6) and (7), respectively; 

10 (3) by redesignating paragraph (3) as para11 graph (5); 

12 (4) by inserting after paragraph (2) the fol13 lowing: 

14 ‘‘(3) DIGITAL FORGERY.—The term ‘digital for15 gery’ means any intimate visual depiction of an iden16 tifiable individual created through the use of soft17 ware, machine learning, artificial intelligence, or any 

18 other computer-generated or technological means, in19 cluding by adapting, modifying, manipulating, or al20 tering an authentic visual depiction, to appear to a 

21 reasonable person to be indistinguishable from an 

22 authentic visual depiction of the individual, regard23 less of whether the visual depiction indicates, 

24 through a label or some other form of information 

25 published with the visual depiction, that the visual 

26 depiction is not authentic.’’; 


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1 (5) in paragraph (5), as so redesignated— 

2 (A) by striking ‘‘(5) DEPICTED’’ and in3 serting ‘‘(5) IDENTIFIABLE’’; and 

4 (B) by striking ‘‘depicted individual’’ and 

5 inserting ‘‘identifiable individual’’; and 

6 (6) in paragraph (6)(A), as so redesignated— 

7 (A) in clause (i), by striking ‘‘; or’’ and in8 serting a semicolon; 

9 (B) in clause (ii)— 

10 (i) in subclause (I), by striking ‘‘indi11 vidual;’’ and inserting ‘‘individual; or’’; and 

12 (ii) by striking subclause (III); and 

13 (C) by adding at the end the following: 

14 ‘‘(iii) an identifiable individual engag15 ing in sexually explicit conduct; and’’. 

16 (b) CIVIL ACTION.—Section 1309(b) of the Consoli17 dated Appropriations Act, 2022 (15 U.S.C. 6851(b)) is 

18 amended— 

19 (1) in paragraph (1)— 

20 (A) by striking paragraph (A) and insert21 ing the following: 

22 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—Except as provided in 

23 paragraph (5)— 

24 ‘‘(i) an identifiable individual whose 

25 intimate visual depiction is disclosed, in or 


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1 affecting interstate or foreign commerce or 

2 using any means or facility of interstate or 

3 foreign commerce, without the consent of 

4 the identifiable individual, where such dis5 closure was made by a person who knows 

6 or recklessly disregards that the identifi7 able individual has not consented to such 

8 disclosure, may bring a civil action against 

9 that person in an appropriate district court 

10 of the United States for relief as set forth 

11 in paragraph (3); 

12 ‘‘(ii) an identifiable individual who is 

13 the subject of a digital forgery may bring 

14 a civil action in an appropriate district 

15 court of the United States for relief as set 

16 forth in paragraph (3) against any person 

17 that knowingly produced or possessed the 

18 digital forgery with intent to disclose it, or 

19 knowingly disclosed or solicited the digital 

20 forgery, if— 

21 ‘‘(I) the identifiable individual 

22 did not consent to such production, 

23 disclosure, solicitation, or possession; 

24 ‘‘(II) the person knew or reck25 lessly disregarded that the identifiable 


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1 individual did not consent to such pro2 duction, disclosure, solicitation, or 

3 possession; and 

4 ‘‘(III) such production, disclo5 sure, solicitation, or possession is in 

6 or affects interstate or foreign com7 merce or uses any means or facility of 

8 interstate or foreign commerce; and 

9 ‘‘(iii) an identifiable individual who is 

10 the subject of a digital forgery may bring 

11 a civil action in an appropriate district 

12 court of the United States for relief as set 

13 forth in paragraph (3) against any person 

14 that knowingly produced the digital forgery 

15 if— 

16 ‘‘(I) the identifiable individual 

17 did not consent to such production; 

18 ‘‘(II) the person knew or reck19 lessly disregarded that the identifiable 

20 individual did not consent to such pro21 duction; and 

22 ‘‘(III) such production is in or 

23 affects interstate or foreign commerce 

24 or uses any means or facility of inter25 state or foreign commerce.’’; and 


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1 (B) in subparagraph (B)— 

2 (i) in the heading, by inserting 

3 ‘‘IDENTIFIABLE’’ before ‘‘INDIVID4 UALS’’; and 

5 (ii) by striking ‘‘an individual who is 

6 under 18 years of age, incompetent, inca7 pacitated, or deceased, the legal guardian 

8 of the individual’’ and inserting ‘‘an identi9 fiable individual who is under 18 years of 

10 age, incompetent, incapacitated, or de11 ceased, the legal guardian of the identifi12 able individual’’; 

13 (2) in paragraph (2)— 

14 (A) in subparagraph (A)— 

15 (i) by inserting ‘‘identifiable’’ before 

16 ‘‘individual’’; 

17 (ii) by striking ‘‘depiction’’ and insert18 ing ‘‘intimate visual depiction or digital 

19 forgery’’; and 

20 (iii) by striking ‘‘distribution’’ and in21 serting ‘‘disclosure, solicitation, or posses22 sion’’; and 

23 (B) in subparagraph (B)— 

24 (i) by inserting ‘‘identifiable’’ before 

25 individual; 


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1 (ii) by inserting ‘‘or digital forgery’’ 

2 after each place the term ‘‘depiction’’ ap3 pears; and 

4 (iii) by inserting ‘‘, solicitation, or 

5 possession’’ after ‘‘disclosure’’; 

6 (3) by redesignating paragraph (4) as para7 graph (5); 

8 (4) by striking paragraph (3) and inserting the 

9 following: 

10 ‘‘(3) RELIEF.—In a civil action filed under this 

11 section— 

12 ‘‘(A) an identifiable individual may recover 

13 the actual damages sustained by the individual 

14 or liquidated damages in the amount of 

15 $150,000, and the cost of the action, including 

16 reasonable attorney’s fees and other litigation 

17 costs reasonably incurred; and 

18 ‘‘(B) the court may, in addition to any 

19 other relief available at law, order equitable re20 lief, including a temporary restraining order, a 

21 preliminary injunction, or a permanent injunc22 tion ordering the defendant to cease display or 

23 disclosure of the intimate visual depiction or 

24 digital forgery. 


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1 ‘‘(4) PRESERVATION OF PRIVACY.—In a civil 

2 action filed under this section, the court may issue 

3 an order to protect the privacy of a plaintiff, includ4 ing by— 

5 ‘‘(A) permitting the plaintiff to use a pseu6 donym; 

7 ‘‘(B) requiring the parties to redact the 

8 personal identifying information of the plaintiff 

9 from any public filing, or to file such documents 

10 under seal; and 

11 ‘‘(C) issuing a protective order for pur12 poses of discovery, which may include an order 

13 indicating that any intimate visual depiction or 

14 digital forgery shall remain in the care, custody, 

15 and control of the court.’’; 

16 (5) in paragraph (5)(A), as so redesignated— 

17 (A) by striking ‘‘image’’ and inserting ‘‘vis18 ual depiction or digital forgery’’; and 

19 (B) by striking ‘‘depicted’’ and inserting 

20 ‘‘identifiable’’; and 

21 (6) by adding at the end the following: 

22 ‘‘(6) STATUTE OF LIMITATIONS.—Any action 

23 commenced under this section shall be barred unless 

24 the complaint is filed not later than 10 years from 

25 the later of— 


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1 ‘‘(A) the date on which the identifiable in2 dividual reasonably discovers the violation that 

3 forms the basis for the claim; or 

4 ‘‘(B) the date on which the identifiable in5 dividual reaches 18 years of age. 

6 ‘‘(7) DUPLICATIVE RECOVERY BARRED.—No re7 lief may be ordered under paragraph (3) against a 

8 person who is subject to a judgment under section 

9 2255 of title 18, United States Code, for the same 

10 conduct involving the same identifiable individual 

11 and the same intimate visual depiction or digital for12 gery.’’. 

13 (c) CONTINUED APPLICABILITY OF FEDERAL, 

14 STATE, AND TRIBAL LAW.— 

15 (1) IN GENERAL.—This Act shall not be con16 strued to impair, supersede, or limit a provision of 

17 Federal, State, or Tribal law. 

18 (2) NO PREEMPTION.—Nothing in this Act 

19 shall prohibit a State or Tribal government from 

20 adopting and enforcing a provision of law governing 

21 nonconsensual activity involving a digital forgery, as 

22 defined in section 1309(a) of the Consolidated Ap23 propriations Act, 2022 (15 U.S.C. 6851(a)), as 

24 amended by this Act, that is at least as protective 

25 of the rights of a victim as this Act. 


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1 SEC. 3. SEVERABILITY. 

2 If any provision of this Act, an amendment made by 

3 this Act, or the application of such a provision or amend4 ment to any person or circumstance, is held to be uncon5 stitutional, the remaining provisions of and amendments 

6 made by this Act, and the application of the provision or 

7 amendment held to be unconstitutional to any other per8 son or circumstance, shall not be affected thereby. 

Æ 


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