Paris Hilton Pushes House on Deepfakes Legislation: ‘Really Hope They Move This Bill’

J. Scott Applewhite, Lindsey Wasson/AP Photos

Socialite Paris Hilton is pushing the U.S. House of Representatives and Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) to pass a bipartisan bill that would legally deep-six those who make and distribute sexual deepfake images.

The model and former reality television star has backed the DEFIANCE Act, sponsored by Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) and Laurel Lee (R-FL), which would give victims the right to sue those who “knowingly produce, distribute, solicit and receive or possess with the intent to distribute nonconsensual sexually-explicit digital forgeries.”

The bill passed the Senate in January in a unanimous vote.

Johnson was asked about the DEFIANCE Act Tuesday, but didn’t commit to getting it passed.

“No, I remember that. I don’t know,” Johnson said according to video posted to X. “I don’t know what the status of it is though. I’m obviously in favor of that. It’s a very important piece of legislation. Laurel’s done great work on it. We’ll have to see.”

I’m proud to support @RepLaurelLee @AOC’s #DEFIANCEAct to provide victims of explicit deepfakes access to justice,” Hilton posted on X.

“It passed the Senate UNANIMOUSLY and is awaiting a vote in @JudiciaryGOP – Leadership has the ability to pass this and I really hope they move this bill as this issue is impacting women and girls in every neighborhood🥹 @MikeJohnson @HouseGOP @SpeakerJohnson,” she wrote.

Hilton has been an outspoken advocate for abuse victims and was infamously the victim of a sex tape scandal in 2003, when she was just 19.

“People called it a scandal. It wasn’t. It was abuse,” she said during her January appearance in Washington to push for the DEFIANCE Act.

“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. They called me names, they laughed and made me the punchline,” the now 45-year-old said at the time.

“They sold my pain for clicks, and then they told me to be quiet, to move on, to even be grateful for the attention. These people didn’t see me as a young woman who had been exploited. They didn’t see the panic that I felt, the humiliation or the shame. No one asked me what I lost.”

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