Last week, the House Energy and Commerce Committee voted to approve the TAKE IT DOWN Act, a bill that would create criminal penalties for distributing nonconsensual intimate images (NCII) and mandate tech companies to remove such content. It is now eligible to move to the full House for a vote.

The bill has, relatively speaking, sailed through Congress. The Act is a bipartisan, bicameral bill, jointly introduced into the Senate by Sens. Ted Cruz (R-TX) and Amy Klobuchar (D-MN). Introduced for the first time in June 2024, it passed the Senate unanimously both this year and last. President Trump has also vowed to sign it, and First Lady Melania Trump held a roundtable in support of the bill this March.

But even if the bill passes, a larger question looms: Can it be enforced? By whom?

Enforcement of the act falls squarely to the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), the independent agency that has shouldered most of the responsibility for holding tech platforms accountable.

But the FTC, like much of the federal bureaucracy, has been caught in the crosshairs of the Elon Musk-led effort to streamline the government. The agency already saw layoffs as a part of the purge of probationary federal employees shortly after Trump took office. Several outlets have reported that as of last week, DOGE officials have begun work at the FTC, usually a premonition of further staff reduction.

Moreover, Trump removed the two Democratic commissioners last month. Now both are suing the administration, saying that attempting to terminate their positions without cause violates a Supreme Court precedent.

These moves have left the agency hobbled, raising questions about its ability to uphold the law’s core provisions and whether the administration’s actions leave the law a symbolic win for victims.