A 37-year-old man from Columbus, Ohio, has become the first person to be federally convicted under a new law that makes publishing pornographic deepfakes a crime. James Strahler II pleaded guilty to cyberstalking and other charges covered by the Take It Down Act.
According to authorities, Strahler had at least 10 victims, including children, who were targeted with obscene photos and messages without their consent. The victims included a woman who received texts, voice mail messages, and nude pictures from unknown numbers, as well as A.I.-generated intimate images of her face morphed onto pornographic content.
Strahler was arrested after the woman contacted the police, who found evidence of his crimes on his phone, including over 700 photos of real victims. He also had similar harassment records against two ex-girlfriends and their mothers.
The Take It Down Act, signed into law by President Trump, criminalizes the nonconsensual sharing of sexually explicit images of others and requires companies to remove them. The law carries prison sentences of up to two years for adults and three years for minors.
First Lady Melania Trump has supported the law’s passage, calling it “a huge achievement” in protecting Americans from cybercrimes.
Source: https://www.nytimes.com/2026/04/08/us/deepfake-conviction-ohio.html