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H.R. 3562: DEFIANCE Act of 2025

119th Congress · introduced 2025-05-21 · Crime and Law Enforcement · Latest: Referred to the House Committee on the Judiciary.

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What does this mean?

Official title

DEFIANCE Act of 2025

Plain summary

Disrupt Explicit Forged Images And Non-Consensual Edits Act of 2025 or the DEFIANCE Act of 2025 This bill expands civil remedies for the nonconsensual disclosure of intimate images (i.e., nonconsensual pornography). The bill also establishes a new federal civil action for nonconsensual conduct involving intimate digital forgeries (i.e., deepfakes). The term intimate digital forgery means any intimate visual depiction of an identifiable individual created using software, machine learning, artificial intelligence, or other computer-generated or technological means that looks authentic. With respect to the nonconsensual disclosure of intimate images, current law allows an identifiable individual to recover civil remedies, including litigation costs, damages, and injunctive relief. This bill increases the available damages by allowing the individual to recover punitive damages and by including, as part of actual damages, profits of the defendant that are attributable to the conduct at issue. The bill also allows an identifiable individual who is the subject of an intimate digital forgery to file a federal civil action against anyone who knowingly discloses, produces or possesses with intent to disclose, or solicits and receives the intimate digital forgery without the individual's consent. Under the bill, the identifiable individual may recover the same expanded civil remedies that are available for the nonconsensual disclosure of intimate images. Finally, the bill establishes a 10-year statute of limitations for filing civil actions involving nonconsensual intimate digital forgeries or nonconsensual disclosure of intimate images. The statute begins to run when the individual discovers the violation or turns 18, whichever is later.

Congressional Research Service summary (Introduced in House), quoted unchanged (nonpartisan). Read the source.

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What does this mean? (plain words)

Official text

DEFIANCE Act of 2025

Source: Congressional Research Service summary (Introduced in House)

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Officials and money

Sponsor: Rep. Ocasio-Cortez, Alexandria [D-NY-14] · 69 cosponsors

Cost estimate: No cost estimate published yet.

Cosponsors on this site

Laurel M. Lee (R-FL), Kat Cammack (R-FL), Christopher R. Deluzio (D-PA), Debbie Dingell (D-MI), Michael Lawler (R-NY), Ted Lieu (D-CA), Nancy Mace (R-SC), Max L. Miller (R-OH), Jamie Raskin (D-MD), Brittany Pettersen (D-CO), Jefferson Van Drew (R-NJ), Nydia M. Velázquez (D-NY), Brian K. Fitzpatrick (R-PA), Claudia Tenney (R-NY), Jasmine Crockett (D-TX), Nicole Malliotakis (R-NY), Josh Gottheimer (D-NJ), Chuck Edwards (R-NC), J. Luis Correa (D-CA), Mike Carey (R-OH), Josh Harder (D-CA), Lance Gooden (R-TX), Adelita S. Grijalva (D-AZ), Anna Paulina Luna (R-FL), Yassamin Ansari (D-AZ), Thomas H. Kean, Jr. (R-NJ), Rashida Tlaib (D-MI), Dwight Evans (D-PA), Sarah McBride (D-DE), Nathaniel Moran (R-TX), Jared Moskowitz (D-FL), Erin Houchin (R-IN), Greg Landsman (D-OH), Mike Bost (R-IL), Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC), Monica De La Cruz (R-TX), Jim Costa (D-CA), Julia Letlow (R-LA), Ro Khanna (D-CA), William R. Timmons IV (R-SC), Jake Auchincloss (D-MA), Vern Buchanan (R-FL), Donald G. Davis (D-NC), Mariannette Miller-Meeks (R-IA), Bonnie Watson Coleman (D-NJ), Ann Wagner (R-MO), Dina Titus (D-NV), Robert P. Bresnahan, Jr. (R-PA), Jimmy Panetta (D-CA), Nick LaLota (R-NY), Valerie P. Foushee (D-NC), W. Gregory Steube (R-FL), Madeleine Dean (D-PA), Andrew R. Garbarino (R-NY), Thomas R. Suozzi (D-NY), Blake D. Moore (R-UT), Deborah K. Ross (D-NC), Maria Elvira Salazar (R-FL), Grace Meng (D-NY), Clay Fuller (R-GA) and 9 more.

Sponsor's campaign money: Rep. Ocasio-Cortez, Alexandria [D-NY-14] reported raising $38.0 million (2025–2026). Details. Shown for context only; it does not mean any donor supported this bill.

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Computer systems that do tasks that usually need human judgment, such as recognizing images, understanding language or making predictions. Laws about AI often cover how it is used, tested, disclosed or limited.
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A proposed law. It becomes law only if it passes the legislature and is signed by the president or governor (or a veto is overridden).
Statute
A written law passed by a legislature. A statute can be changed by a later law; changing a constitution needs an amendment.

Plain meanings written from linked sources. All words.

Sources

Record fed-us-cong119-hr3562 · catalog fed-us-congress-bills-cong119 · updated 2026-11-03 by psicol fed-bills