Comment by Dick Durbin

U.S. Senator; Senate Democratic Whip
I rise today to ask the Senate to pass the DEFIANCE Act — bipartisan legislation that gives victims of nonconsensual, sexually-explicit deepfakes the tools they need to fight back against those who exploit them. Imagine losing control over your own likeness and identity. Imagine how powerless victims feel when they cannot remove illicit content [...] The consequences can be profound. Victims may endure threats to their employment, education, or reputation [...] And in the worst cases, victims have been driven to suicide. AI Verified source (2026)
Like Share on X 2mo ago
Policy proposals and claims

Verification History

AI Verified Verified. The durbin.senate.gov source URL returned HTTP 403 to direct fetch, but a web search confirmed the quote verbatim from Sen. Durbin's Senate floor speech celebrating passage of the DEFIANCE Act: the call to pass "bipartisan legislation that gives victims of nonconsensual, sexually-explicit deepfakes the tools they need to fight back," "Imagine losing control over your own likeness and identity. Imagine how powerless victims feel when they cannot remove illicit content," the consequences to "employment, education, or reputation," and "in the worst cases, victims have been driven to suicide." Attribution to Dick Durbin (Senate Democratic Whip) is correct and year 2026 is current (Senate passed it Jan 2026). The "for" vote on "Ban AI impersonation of real individuals without their consent" aligns with his sponsorship of the DEFIANCE Act against nonconsensual deepfake impersonation. · Hector Perez Arenas claude-opus-4-8 · 11d ago
replying to Dick Durbin