Melania Trump says new revenge porn law will protect children online

First Lady Melania Trump has joined her husband President Donald Trump as he signed a bill into law that makes posting so-called "revenge porn" and deepfake explicit content illegal.

The Take It Down Act criminalises posting "intimate images" - real or AI-generated - online without an individual's consent and requires technology companies to remove the content within 48 hours.

While the bill has received strong bipartisan support, some digital rights groups say it's too broad and could lead to censorship.

The first lady has championed the bill since her husband began his second term, arguing children need to be protected from "mean-spirited and hurtful online behaviour".

The bill is the sixth piece of legislation Trump has signed in his second term, with the president often preferring to enact his agenda through Executive Orders.

"Anyone who intentionally distributes explicit images without the subject's consent will face up to three years in prison," Trump said.

White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt previously said the Melania Trump was "instrumental" in getting the bill through Congress.

The first lady, who rarely makes public appearances, described the new law as a "national victory that will help parents and families protect children from online exploitation".

"This legislation is a powerful step forward in our efforts to ensure that every American, especially young people, can feel better protected from their image or identity being abused," she added.

It cleared the lower chamber of Congress in a 409-2 vote at the end of April, and was unanimously passed by the Senate in February.

Melania Trump used her first solo public appearance to urge members of Congress to pass the bill in March.

"It's heartbreaking to witness young teens, especially girls, grappling with the overwhelming challenges posed by malicious online content, like deepfakes," the first lady said during a roundtable discussing the bill on 3 March.

Revenge porn is sharing an intimate image without consent. Deepfake porn involves creating, often using AI, a fake explicit image or video of a person.

Use of the technology has grown in recent years, allowing users to add the faces of celebrities or public figures - most often women - into pornographic films.

The bill has been endorsed by Paris Hilton, the businesswoman and DJ, who called it "a crucial step toward ending non-consensual image sharing online".

Tech companies including Meta, TikTok and Google also supported the legislation. But it's not without critics.

Advocates for digital rights and free speech say it could lead to the censorship of legitimate content, including legal pornography, LGBT content, and government criticism.

"While protecting victims of these heinous privacy invasions is a legitimate goal, good intentions alone are not enough to make good policy," digital rights advocacy group Electronic Frontier Foundation said.

"As currently drafted, the Act mandates a notice-and-takedown system that threatens free expression, user privacy, and due process, without addressing the problem it claims to solve."

The Internet Society, which advocates for digital privacy on the internet, says it poses "unacceptable risks to users' fundamental privacy rights and cybersecurity by undermining encryption".