MARY LOUISE KELLY, HOST:
Today, President Trump signed the Take It Down Act, which tightens rules around what is known as revenge porn. Lisa Autry from member station WKYU met one Kentucky family that hopes the law will help others avoid the loss of a loved one. And a warning - this story discusses suicide.
LISA AUTRY, BYLINE: Family and friends describe 16-year-old Eli Heacock as a prankster who lit up a room. He was close to getting his driver's license. On February 28, his mother, Shannon Heacock, picked him up from school and surprised him with a new Jeep.
SHANNON HEACOCK: He was ecstatic. We drove, and actually, he held my hand as we were switching gears so I could show him how to do a five-speed.
AUTRY: At 11:30 that night, his mom says Eli was found on the floor of the laundry room, a gun lying next to his feet. The sheriff's office says his death was ruled self-inflicted. The gun belonged to his family. The teen used it to target shoot in the backyard, a common practice in rural Kentucky. His dad, John Burnett, says investigators found his son was not a depressed kid.
JOHN BURNETT: Even the cops told us he was a well-adjusted young man. He had tennis, he had track, and he was excited about all these things.
AUTRY: The family says during a search of Eli's phone, investigators found AI-generated images of the young man. According to the Heacocks, the FBI is investigating possible sextortion in the case because of a threat to release the pictures unless he paid $3,000. His best friend, Harrison Ely, recalls Eli texting him that night, asking to borrow money.
HARRISON ELY: Which I didn't know what it was about, but I only had $8 on my Cash App at the time. I didn't think nothing of it. I fell asleep, and I woke up, and I checked my phone, and the last message I got from him was, I love you so much. And that kind of still hits me hard.
AUTRY: The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children received more than 26,000 reports of financial sextortion in 2023, up from just over 10,000 the previous year. Today, the Heacock family visited the White House for the signing of the Take It Down Act. The new national law will make it a crime to publish or threaten to publish nonconsensual, intimate photos, whether real or fake. Online platforms would also be required to remove content within 48 hours of a victim contacting them.
BECCA BRANUM: The bill is very likely to result in the takedown of content that is well outside of its intended target.
AUTRY: Becca Branum is with the Center for Democracy and Technology. They fear the law could be weaponized. For example, they say if someone wants to take down political speech, they could use the law to bombard social media platforms with takedown requests, and because of the 48-hour requirement, social media platforms may default to just pulling content down.
BRANUM: And those unintended consequences are really going to matter when the bill is inevitably challenged on First Amendment grounds.
AUTRY: Opponents say there should be penalties for making a false report, and the law contains no such provision. Meanwhile, Kentucky enacted a new law in March making sextortion a felony.
For NPR News, I'm Lisa Autry in Bowling Green, Kentucky.
KELLY: And if you or someone you know may be considering suicide or is in crisis, contact the 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline by dialing 988. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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