NY Crime Victims Legal Help

In May 2026, a new law took effect that penalizes tech companies for turning a blind eye to nonconsensual intimate imagery (so-called “revenge porn”) on their platforms and ignoring or slow-walking victim requests for removal of abusive material. This law, part of the Take it Down Act, is a powerful new tool for survivors. It builds on other laws passed in recent years, which together are shifting power from abusers – and the platforms that too often enabled abuse – to survivors and their lawyers and advocates.  

Under the Take It Down Act, platforms now must remove nonconsensual imagery within 48 hours of a request, and they must provide a simple process for such requests. Victims can report noncompliant platforms, and the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) can impose civil penalties on the platform of up to $53,000 per violation.  

The law is broad. It covers both authentic imagery and sexualized “deepfakes” fabricated using A.I. or other manipulation. Coverage of deepfakes is critical, given the explosion of A.I. that can turn ordinary imagery into simulated nudity or sex, such as when Elon Musk’s Grok A.I. released a model without guardrails that led to 3?million new sexualized deepfakes in 11 days. The law also covers a wide range of platforms, including all publicly available websites or apps that provide for user-generated content, such as messaging, imagery, videos, or games. Illustrating that breadth, the FTC recently reminded major companies to comply, including: TikTok, Meta (parent of Instagram and Facebook), Pinterest, Reddit, Snapchat, Discord, Match Group (parent of many dating apps), X (parent of Grok and X/Twitter), Alphabet (parent of YouTube and Google), Amazon, and Apple. 

A detailed analysis of the law’s requirements is available in a free manual from the NY Cyber Abuse Task Force, along with links to platform removal request pages and details on reporting violations to the FTC, at: cyberabuse.nyc/cyber-abuse-manual (at pages 79-87 of the PDF). The manual also contains many other resources for fighting nonconsensual imagery and related tech abuse, including detailed analysis and case law summaries for other relevant federal and state laws, both criminal and civil, as well as for family court – acting as a treatise on laws concerning tech abuse at the federal level and for New York (with links to find laws in other states). It also contains many resources for non-lawyer advocates and survivors fighting tech abuse, for example guides on safety planning, self-help remedies, and directories of support services.

________________________________________________________________________

The NY Cyber Abuse Task Force, which publishes the manual, is a coalition of New York-based legal and non-legal professionals, survivors, and advocates who fight nonconsensual imagery and related technology-facilitated gender-based violence. The NY Task Force currently has more than 300 members, with 30-40 regularly attending virtual meetings every other month where we hear presentations and discuss our work. To ask to join the NY Task Force, or to ask about creating a similar task force in states beyond New York, reach out at cyberabuse.nyc/contact