The House of Representatives is moving forward with a proposal to penalize the creation and distribution of artificial intelligence (AI) content that includes deepfakes and other explicit materials online.
Under the proposed House Bill 807, known as the Take It Down Act, Representative Robert Nazal of the Bagong Henerasyon party-list seeks to impose a 12-year prison sentence for violators, increasing to 20 years if the victim is a minor.
“The rise of AI tools has made it easier to create realistic deepfake images and videos. Criminals now use these tools to place a victim's face onto pornographic content or generate fake nude images or videos to harass, extort, or humiliate,” he said in his online statement.
Nazal emphasizes that once this bill becomes law, the Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT) must establish a portal for victims to file complaints for takedown requests.
In addition to the proposed legislation, posts flagged for violation must be removed within 24 to 48 hours after a complaint is submitted. Failure to remove any reported content will result in a fine.
Victims will have the right to sue for damages, and all legal proceedings will be kept confidential to protect the identity of the victims.
Nazal has stated that cases of this nature must be taken seriously and not treated as a joke.
“Nasa Bagong Henerasyon na tayo. Hindi na dapat pinagtatawanan o binabalewala ang digital sexual abuse—oras na para managot ang mga gumagawa at nagpapakalat nito.” he said.
