President Donald Trump brought into effect the Take It Down Act on a fine Monday, setting the ground for a bipartisan law that toughens the consequences for sharing nonconsensual explicit materials, inclusive of revenge porn and deepfakes.

Sharing such stuff, whether it is real or artificial intelligence-generated, is now illegal under the new rule. Anyone found guilty of sharing such pictures or videos could be staring at severe legal repercussions ranging from hefty fines to incarceration, and compulsory restitution as well.

The fresh legislation requires all social media platforms and online avenues to pull down such unsolicited materials within a tidy span of 48 hours of being notified by the victim. Furthermore, it is necessary for these platforms to guarantee that all copies of the specified material are removed.

While numerous states have already prohibited sharing sexually explicit revenge porn and deepfakes, this federal intervention marks a first, pressing online firms to toe the line.

"We are bringing into force the first federal law of its kind, aimed at nipping nonconsensual explicit image sharing activities in the bud," said Trump at a bill signing ceremony on Monday at the White House. "Such online sexual exploitation has no place in our society."

The First Lady, Melania Trump, backed the bill, which carried the support of Senators Ted Cruz (R-Texas) and Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.), with Cruz expressing his commitment to the cause after an incident involving Snapchat's reluctance to pull down an AI-created deepfake of a 14-year-old girl.

Despite the promising intent of the law, it has drawn criticism from champions of free speech and digital rights collectives. They argue the law's overarching nature that could spill over to legal censorship of acceptable content, such as legal pornography and political dissenters.