First person convicted under law criminalizing intimate deepfakes

Key Points:

• James Strahler II of Ohio became the first person convicted under the Trump administration’s Take It Down Act for creating and distributing nonconsensual explicit imagery, including AI-generated deepfakes involving both adult and minor victims.
• Strahler used AI to morph faces of boys from his community onto bodies in sexual abuse material, posting over 700 images online and possessing thousands more on his phone, including AI-generated child sexual abuse content.
• The Take It Down Act, signed by President Trump in May 2025 and advocated by First Lady Melania Trump, criminalizes nonconsensual intimate deepfakes and mandates online platforms remove reported imagery within 48 hours.
• The law passed with strong bipartisan support and imposes penalties of up to two years in prison for offenses involving adults and up to three years for offenses involving minors.
• The conviction highlights growing concerns over AI-generated child sexual abuse material, with over 1.5 million related tips reported to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children in 2025, prompting further legislative efforts at federal and state levels.