Paris Hilton Fights Against Deepfakes On Capitol Hill

Paris Hilton stood on Capitol Hill alongside politicians to fight for survivors of explicit deepfakes after surviving her own abuse when her sex tape was leaked.

On January 22, 2026, Hilton stood in Washington, D.C. with United States Representatives Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Laurel Lee to endorse the DEFIANCE Act (via TikTok). DEFIANCE is an acronym that stands for Disrupt Explicit Forged Images And Non-Consensual Edits Act.

It’s a bipartisan bill that “strengthens legal protections for survivors of AI-generated explicit deepfakes,” which would give the survivors ways to fight back against the injustice, according to Hilton.

Some states, like California, already have laws against sharing explicit images without consent, colloquially called revenge porn, but the DEFIANCE Act would be enacted throughout the country.

She said that she is proud to speak out on the issue “and stand up for women and girls everywhere.” The clip posted by the activist shows her standing next to the politicians while revealing a trauma she’s “never fully said aloud.”

She said:

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. There were no laws at the time to protect me. There weren’t even words for what had been done to me.

At the time, the internet was brand new, but Hilton expressed that she still felt the “cruelty” of the internet. She was called names, made to be the punchline of jokes, and they sold her pain to get clicks. After she was traumatized, they told her to move on and “even to be grateful for the attention.“

It was at this part of her speech that Hilton began getting emotional, sharing that she wasn’t viewed as a real person who was being exploited.

Hilton shared:

They didn’t see the panic that I felt. The humiliation or the shame. No one asked me what I lost. I lost control over my body, over my reputation, my sense of safety, and self-worth was stolen from me and I fought hard to get those things back.

Before artificial intelligence, she thought the worst of her trauma was behind her, but now millions of women are suffering because of generative AI deepfakes. “Deep fake pornography has become an epidemic​​​​​,” said Hilton.

She admits that there are over 100,000 explicit deepfakes of her on the internet, and none of them are consensual. Then, she notes that one in eight girls today is abused by deepfake AI pornography, and teen girls have shared with her that they’re afraid to go to school because deepfakes of them are circulating.

As those women get older, they’re afraid to apply to jobs, become politicians, or even speak openly because of how easy it is to be abused by these deepfakes.

Hilton said:

Too many women are afraid to exist online or sometimes to exist at all, and I know how that feels.

On January 30, 2026, Hilton will release her film, Infinite Icon, in theaters to reclaim another part of her story. She also acknowledges her privilege and is aware that not many survivors have a large platform, as she encourages the support of the DEFIANCE Act.