Five Cases That Show the Scale of This — and What Changed Because of Them

The largest TAKE IT DOWN Act enforcement action to date.

In June 2026, the DOJ and DHS seized the domains CFAKE.com and SOCFAKE.com in a coordinated operation with French and Italian authorities — the first major enforcement action under the TAKE IT DOWN Act. French investigators had already identified 300,000 images and 7,000 videos depicting roughly 14,000 people, including politicians, athletes, musicians, and royalty from multiple countries. A French national was arrested and charged as an administrator of the network.

The first major federal prosecution of individuals under the Act.

Federal prosecutors in Brooklyn unsealed charges against two unconnected men — one in New Jersey, one in Texas — accused of using AI tools to generate and distribute deepfake pornography of 140 named victims, with content reaching nearly 3 million views.

The case that made this impossible to ignore.

Explicit AI-generated images of Taylor Swift spread across X in January 2024, originating from a Telegram group built specifically to produce them. One image alone reportedly reached 47 million views before removal. X temporarily blocked searches of her name; the White House commented publicly; Congress cited the moment directly while building the TAKE IT DOWN Act.

The case that wrote the law.

In October 2023, 14-year-old Elliston Berry of Texas and 15-year-old Francesca Mani of New Jersey each discovered that classmates had used AI to fabricate nude images of them and dozens of other girls. Both schools and both platforms initially responded with silence. Elliston's family brought the case to Senator Ted Cruz's office; both girls testified at a Senate field hearing. Their advocacy became the TAKE IT DOWN Act.