When Paris Hilton was 19, an intimate video of her was made public without her consent. Now, she’s using the pain of that experience to fuel her as she works to get the Defiance Act passed in Congress.
On Thursday (Jan. 22), the DJ spoke at an event on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C., alongside New York representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez to champion the bill, which would establish “a civil cause of action for individuals who are the subject of nonconsensual digital forgeries (commonly known as deepfakes) depicting intimate activity or nudity,” according to Congress’ website.
“I am Paris Hilton — a woman, a wife, a mom, a survivor — and what was done to me was wrong,” Hilton said in her address, a video of which she posted on TikTok. “And I will keep telling the truth to protect every woman, every girl, every survivor, now and for the future.”
The heiress spoke in depth about the trauma of having her 2004 sex tape — which she alleges in her book Paris: The Memoir her then-boyfriend Rick Salomon, who was 32 when she was 19, pressured her into making — exposed to the world. “People called it a scandal,” Hilton said from the podium. “It wasn’t. It was abuse.”
“There were no laws at the time to protect me,” she added. “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.”
The dangers of some using modern technology to render false, realistic pornographic depictions of real individuals is just one of many concerns people are having in the age of artificial intelligence. The Defiance Act has already passed in the Senate, going through in July 2024.
Hilton previously used her platform to back a different piece of legislation, the Stop Institutional Child Abuse Act, which was passed into law in December 2024. Shortly before their press conference on the Hill, AOC wrote of the star on X, “People don’t recognize enough how effective @ParisHilton is in her advocacy. Not only does she throw her public power behind survivors, but she also brings a fierce behind-the-scenes operation with her.”
See Hilton’s speech on Capitol Hill below.
@parishilton When I was 19, a private video of me was shared without my consent — and there were no laws to protect me. What people called a “scandal” was actually abuse, and it’s something survivors are still facing today. That’s why today, I spoke on Capitol Hill with @Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and #LaurelLee about the DEFIANCE Act 🏛️🩷 This bipartisan bill strengthens legal protections for survivors of AI-generated explicit deepfakes giving people real options to fight back and seek justice when intimate images are shared without consent. Proud to use my voice on this issue and stand up for women and girls everywhere 💗 #DEFIANCEAct
♬ original sound – ParisHilton
