Backlash over pornographic deepfakes made with Elon Musk's AI chatbot Grok is fueling a new push to let victims sue, Axios' Maria Curi reports.

• 🤖 The issue goes beyond one company, with various AI tools driving the spread of digitally created nonconsensual intimate imagery and child sexual abuse material.

🏛️ The Senate yesterday passed the bipartisan DEFIANCE Act, which would create a federal civil right of action for victims of intimate digital forgeries.

• Advocates say they expect movement in the House next week.

🙎‍♀️ Celebrities and actresses have been frequent victims of deepfake pornography — but it's also being used against everyday people.

• Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.), sponsor of the DEFIANCE Act and herself a deepfake target, on X: "Across the country, more and more teenage girls are becoming victims of deepfake harassment."

Sexual Violence Prevention Association founder and CEO Omny Miranda Martone says a previous measure, the TAKE IT DOWN Act, "is not doing enough to cover this."

• That law, which takes effect in May, only allows for FTC enforcement actions and doesn't cover content shared in direct messages or emails.
• 🧑‍⚖️ The DEFIANCE Act would go after the production, distribution and solicitation of such images, casting a much wider net.

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Teens are divided on cellphone bans during class, with 51% opposing and 41% supporting, a new Pew Research Center survey finds.

• 👎 They're far more united on phone bans covering the entire school day, with 73% opposing and just 17% supporting.
• That's based on survey results from 1,458 U.S. teens aged 13–17 conducted Sept. 25 to Oct. 9, 2025, through Ipsos.

🚫 Adults are much more supportive of phone bans, with nearly three-quarters saying in a prior survey that middle and high schoolers shouldn't be allowed to use their devices during class.

• A growing number of states and countries are experimenting with phone bans to keep kids focused on classwork.

Full results.

1. 🪖 The U.S. is evacuating some troops from Al Udeid Air Base in Qatar and several other bases in the region ahead of a potential military conflict with Iran over the protests there, two sources with knowledge tell Axios' Barak Ravid. Go deeper.
2. 🚔 The FBI searched the home and devices of Washington Post reporter Hannah Natanson, who covers the Trump administration's reshaping of the federal government. Attorney General Pam Bondi said the search was done at the Pentagon's request as part of a leak probe. Executive Editor Matt Murray told the newsroom: "According to the government warrant, the raid was in connection with an investigation into a government contractor accused of illegally retaining classified government materials. We are told Hannah, and The Post, are not a target." More from Axios' Sara Fischer.
3. 🇬🇱 Danish leaders have a "fundamental disagreement" with the Trump administration over Greenland, Foreign Minster Lars Løkke Rasmussen said after his White House meeting today. Denmark and its allies are beefing up their military presence on the island amid President Trump's demands to control it. Trump, on Truth Social today: "NATO becomes far more formidable and effective with Greenland in the hands of the UNITED STATES." Get the latest.

Colorado has its worst snowpack at this point in the season since recordkeeping began nearly 40 years ago, Axios Denver's Alayna Alvarez reports.

• 🏂 Low snowpack is a bummer for skiers and snowboarders — plus the businesses and towns relying on them.
• 💧 It also raises the risk of wildfires and summer water cuts, given the lack of snowmelt.

Yes, but: There's still time to recover.

• Local meteorologist Chris Bianchi, posting on X: "We've got nearly 3 months until snowpack typically peaks."

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