New Law Protects Kids from Intimate Image Abuse: What Parents Should Know

The Federal Trade Commission has announced how it will enforce the Take It Down Act, a new law designed to protect children and teenagers. This law requires social media platforms, websites, and online services to remove intimate images of minors when reported. The FTC will investigate violations and can issue substantial fines to companies that fail to comply. This gives families a powerful new tool to protect children from image-based abuse and exploitation online. This protection applies to any child or teenager under 18 who has had intimate images shared online without consent. It also covers adults whose intimate images were created when they were minors. If your child's intimate images appear on social media, websites, or other online platforms, you now have a legal right to demand removal. The law requires platforms to act on these removal requests.

Here is what you should do if this affects your family:

1. Visit TakeItDown.NCMEC.org, a service run by the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children. This free service helps you report intimate images for removal without having to view or share the images yourself.
2. Document everything. Take screenshots showing where the images appear (without capturing the actual intimate content), including URLs and dates.
3. Report the content directly to the platform where it appears using their reporting tools, in addition to using the Take It Down service.
4. If a platform refuses to remove the content or does not respond, you can file a complaint with the FTC at ReportFraud.ftc.gov.
5. Contact local law enforcement if the images were created or shared through coercion, blackmail, or other criminal activity. For ongoing protection, talk openly with your children about the risks of creating or sharing intimate images, even in private messages with trusted friends. Explain that once an image is created digitally, they lose control of where it goes. Remind them that if they ever find themselves in this situation, they should come to you immediately without fear of punishment. The law is now on their side, and resources exist to help remove the content and stop the harm.