Protect yourself now: document consent for every collaboration. Written agreements. Timestamped DMs. If someone weaponizes this against your consensual content, your proof is your defense.
This takes effect in 7 days. Most creators haven't heard of it.
Need help with a takedown or a consent agreement? DM @spicycontracts.
You made content. Someone leaked it. The platform took three weeks to respond.
That changes on May 19.
🧵 The TAKE IT DOWN Act: what every creator needs to know before it takes effect in 7 days.
The catch: unlike DMCA, there's no counter-notification process. Someone could file a false complaint against your consensual, legitimate content. Platforms get good-faith immunity for removals, so they'll lean toward taking things down first and asking questions later.
For creators getting deepfaked: same protection. AI-generated intimate images are treated the same as real ones under this law. That's new. That's significant.
For creators: if someone leaks your content, you now have a federal 48-hour removal tool. Not DMCA. Not platform policy. Federal law. File a request. The clock starts.
The criminal penalties: publishing nonconsensual intimate images of adults = up to 2 years. AI deepfakes = up to 2 years. Threatening to publish = up to 18 months. The threat alone is now a federal crime.
Starting May 19, every platform that hosts user content must: create a public reporting process, remove nonconsensual content within 48 hours, find and remove duplicate copies, and give you a tracking number. The FTC enforces this. Penalties start at $53K+ per violation.
The TAKE IT DOWN Act is a federal law that criminalizes sharing intimate images without consent. Real photos, real videos, AND AI-generated deepfakes. Platforms have had one year to comply. That year is up May 19, 2026.
1/ Someone found you your agency. Vouched for them. Said they were legit. Said they were the best fit for you. Here's what they actually checked before they said that. 🧵
Nothing.
6/ Before you trust any referral, ask one question.
"What do you get from the agency if I sign with them?"
If the answer is anything other than nothing, that's not a recommendation. That's a paid placement.
Trust the person. Verify the referral. They're not the same thing.
5/ And it's not just professional referral agencies.
It's your creator friend who loves their agency. Your financial manager. Your business manager. Your accountant. Anyone who says, "I know a great agency."
They might genuinely believe it. They might also be getting paid to say it. You won't know unless you ask.
4/ What gets an agency onto the roster?
Not a legitimate founding. Not fair contract terms. Not reasonable commission splits. Not any vetting at all.
The only requirement is the willingness to pay to be recommended.
Agencies that won't or can't pay never get recommended. Not because they're bad. Because they wouldn't play.
3/ Here's how they actually get paid.
The agency pays them a cut of whatever the agency collects from you. Every month. For as long as you're with that agency.
Buried in your split.
You're paying for the referral. You just don't know it.
2/ Referral agencies present themselves as neutral. They vet agencies on your behalf. They only recommend the best.
What they don't tell you is that the agencies on their roster paid to be there.
The referral agency never reviewed a single contract. Never verified anything. Never had any requirements at all.
7/ Finding these words doesn't mean the contract is bad.
It means you know where to look. It means you can ask the right questions. It means you understand what you're being asked to give up.
That's the whole game.
6/ Ctrl+F these words in your contract before you sign anything:
likeness
image
persona
voice
appearance
synthetic
AI-generated
Search each one separately. One search won't catch them all.
5/ This is why likeness language shows up in management contracts.
Not because it's necessary to provide services. Because your likeness has value far beyond the term of the contract. And agencies know exactly what that value is worth.