Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Paris Hilton have joined forces to urge Congress to pass the DEFIANCE Act.
Ocasio-Cortez and Hilton took part in a press conference Thursday, where the “Stars Are Blind” singer shared her experience as a victim of nonconsensual pornography. The DEFIANCE (Disrupt Explicit Forged Images and Non-Consensual Edits) Act would provide legal recourse for victims of nonconsensual deepfake pornography, creating a civil right to sue creators and distributors of AI-generated intimate images used to harass or exploit them.
“When I was 19 years old, a private, intimate video of me was shared with the world without my consent. People called it a ‘scandal.’ It wasn’t. It was abuse,” Hilton said at the press conference. “There were no laws at the time to protect me. There weren’t even words for what had been done to me. The internet was still new, and so was the cruelty that came with it.”
She added, “Deepfake pornography has become an epidemic. … Victims deserve more than after-the-fact apologies. We deserve justice.”
Hilton opened up about her story first in her documentary This Is Paris, then in her book Paris: The Memoir. In 2004, a sex tape with her then-boyfriend was released without her consent. She has since noted that the situation “would be illegal today,” with The Hollywood Reporter noting the sex tape would have been viewed as revenge porn if it was released in 2020 during a profile with Hilton.
In the interview tied to This Is Paris, Hilton told THR that “if that would have happened today, it would have been a completely different situation.”
“Back then they almost made [it seem] like I was the villain and I was the bad person when it wasn’t me. I feel like if that happened today it would be such a different situation,” she said. “Being a young girl and having something like that, so private, come out and for people to make fun of me for that was one of the most painful things I’ve ever experienced in my life.”
On Thursday morning, the Congresswoman praised Hilton’s efforts on X, writing, “People don’t recognize enough how effective @ParisHilton is in her advocacy.”
“Not only does she throw her public power behind survivors, but she also brings a fierce behind-the-scenes operation with her,” Ocasio-Cortez continued. “Thank you Paris for joining our bipartisan fight for victims everywhere.”
Hilton replied to her post, writing, “Thank you so much for the support and kind words. It’s an honor to be able to use my platform to speak up for others and I’m so proud of what me and my incredible team have been able to accomplish so far. This is just the beginning!”
The former Simple Life star has already endorsed two other pieces of federal legislation that have been passed by Congress; the Stop Institutional Child Abuse Act and Title IV-B Funding Reauthorization. Hilton previously opened up about her experience at a youth residential treatment center. In a 2021 Washington Post opinion article, she wrote about being “choked, slapped across the face, spied on while showering and deprived of sleep” at these camps.
Watch the full press conference with Hilton and Ocasio-Cortez below.
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