Multiple Big Tech Executives Respond to Shaheen-Led Push to Strengthen Efforts to Crack Down on the Spread of Non-Consensual Intimate Imagery
**In August, Shaheen led a bipartisan push to urge big tech participation in programs cracking down on non-consensual intimate imagery on online platforms**
(Washington, DC) – Several big tech companies have responded to letters led by U.S. Senators Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH), Chair of the U.S. Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Commerce, Justice, Science and Related Agencies, and Rick Scott (R-FL) urging their participation in two voluntary programs – Stop NCII and Take It Down – to better locate and take down non-consensual intimate imagery (NII) on their online platforms. In their responses, Amazon, Discord, Google, Match, Microsoft, Patreon, Pinterest, Twitch and Zoom outlined steps being taken to combat the rise in NII, including support for Stop NCII and Take It Down. The Senators did not receive written responses from X or OpenAI.
“We need to use every tool at our disposal to protect people—particularly young women and girls—from this dangerous, illicit activity,” said Shaheen. “While I’m pleased that many of these Big Tech organizations are taking action, there’s more we must do to hold them accountable for the content on their platforms by strengthening efforts to remove such explicit, non-consensual images.”
Response letters can be found below:
In August, Shaheen and Scott led a bipartisan group of Senators—including U.S. Senators Richard Blumenthal (D-CT), Joe Manchin (I-WV), Marsha Blackburn (R-TN), Mazie Hirono (D-HI), Angus King (I-ME), Chuck Grassley (R-IA), Bob Casey (D-PA), Catherine Cortez Masto (D-NV), Maggie Hassan (D-NH), Marco Rubio (R-FL), Sherrod Brown (D-OH) and Ron Wyden (D-OR)—in asking that twelve big tech companies join the Take It Down and Stop NCII programs, which allow online users to remove explicit images of themselves from digital platforms.
The increasing spread of NII remains a dangerous and concerning trend in a rapidly evolving digital world. Last year, the Revenge Porn Helpline reported an alarming 106 percent increase in total reports received compared to the previous year, 34 percent of which represented cases of sextortion.
Shaheen is a vocal advocate for efforts to increase online privacy and protections for youth. In the Committee-passed Commerce, Justice, Science, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act of 2025, Shaheen secured language encouraging the U.S. Department of Justice to prioritize investigating sextortion.
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