Voices for Voices®

The TAKE IT DOWN LAW: A Mother-Daughter Journey from Trauma to the White House | Ep 255

• Founder of Voices for Voices®, Justin Alan Hayes • Season 4 • Episode 255

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The TAKE IT DOWN LAW: A Mother-Daughter Journey from Trauma to the White House | Ep 255

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From trauma to triumph, the journey of Elliston Berry and her mother Anna stands as a powerful testament to what determined voices can accomplish. When an AI-generated deepfake turned Elliston's innocent Instagram photo into a nude image circulated throughout her high school in October 2023, they discovered a terrifying gap in our legal system. Despite the clear harm caused, no laws existed to address AI harassment, leaving the perpetrator—a minor—facing zero consequences.

Refusing to accept this injustice, Anna Berry embarked on a relentless campaign for change. After exhausting local channels, she began reaching out to legislators in December 2023. Senator Cruz, himself a father to daughters near Elliston's age, recognized the urgency of the issue and championed their cause. What followed was a remarkably swift bipartisan effort resulting in the Take It Down Act—groundbreaking legislation signed into law by President Trump on May 19, 2025, in the White House Rose Garden.

The legislation establishes critical protections by explicitly classifying AI deepfakes as pornography and requiring platforms to remove harmful content within 48 hours. The journey to this historic moment included Elliston being recognized at the State of the Union address and participating in a roundtable with First Lady Melania Trump as part of her "Be Best" initiative. In a rare show of unified support, both the President and First Lady signed the bill.

Yet their work continues beyond legislation. Currently, they're developing educational curriculum to help schools understand, prevent, and respond to AI-related harassment while supporting the creation of technology that can identify unauthorized images across the internet. As Elliston poignantly expressed, "I can now look at this situation that happened to me, instead of being fearful and ashamed, and be proud of myself." Follow their continuing journey on Instagram @ellistonberry and watch for their upcoming book that will share their full story and provide guidance for others facing similar situations.

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Voices for Voices Founder, Justin Alan Hayes:

Welcome to the Voices for Voices TV show and podcast. I am your host, founder and executive director of Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes. Thank you so much for joining us. We have an incredible episode, as all of them are, but this is very, very special, and so I'm going to just ask you, reviewers and listeners, where were you on May 19th of 2025? Well, May 19th of 2025, a huge day not only for them, but really the whole country, the United States of America, and it is just amazing. We were able to have them on the show, maybe a year, year and a half ago or so, maybe a year, year and a half ago or so and then presented the Voice of the Year 2024 to her, and so we're just going to jump in. So, again, may 19, 2025, beautiful day, sun's out, rose Garden, the White House, and we'll introduce our guests. So we have Elliston Berry and Miss Anna. Thank you so much for joining us.

Speaker 2:

Thank you, thanks for having us, you bet.

Voices for Voices Founder, Justin Alan Hayes:

So yeah, the hard work of many phone calls kind of at the beginning that you had reaching out to have somebody listen, to take you seriously, is to see things come to fruition from those days to where we're at now. Ms Anna, can you just talk a little bit about just the process of what you went through to get the Take it Down Act to somebody who could actually do something with it?

Speaker 2:

Yeah, so in October of 2023, when this incident happened to Elliston, where this kid took her innocent picture off of Instagram and made it into a nude and then sent it out to her high school, her and eight of her friends anything in the student code of conduct to talk about AI offenses, and even our local law enforcement couldn't do anything because we had no law that would broach this AI crime.

Speaker 2:

So the kid was a minor too.

Speaker 2:

So that was another layer there, because they didn't know what to do with him as a minor.

Speaker 2:

So dealing with all of that through 2023, trying to get somebody to hear, somebody to listen by the end of 2023, after going to school board anybody I could go to I decided, you know what, it's time to go above that If I can't get them to listen, I know that we need some kind of a law in place. So that's when I started reaching out to all of our local reps and then reaching out to senators anybody that would really listen local reps and then reaching out to senators anybody that would really listen. And then Senator Cruz he heard our story and, having daughters that are a year ahead of Elliston and a year below Elliston, he knew that this needed to happen as well. So he flew me to DC the first time just to meet with him and to kind of go around and shop the bill to anybody that would listen so other reps and other senators to try to get them on board with this bipartisan bill that we helped kind of put the wording to.

Voices for Voices Founder, Justin Alan Hayes:

Excellent. So the actual wording how did that come from? Because it sounds really, really good and I always wonder how the wording of the name of the bill or the law actually comes about.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, so I'm not legal so I can't do all of the wording myself, but what they did is really wanted to hear what we wanted. What did we want to come from something? If we had a law, what would it say? How would it help us? And it was really important for us to have something that would have some consequences to it, so him being a minor not having any consequence. We're seeing this all over the country, really all over the world minors doing this to minors, so that was super important. We also wanted it to make sure that AI deep fakes were considered pornography and not just a picture or just something that wasn't. It really truly was child pornography. And then we wanted something that would hold big tech accountable for that, and this bill does that. Within 48 hours, those images have to be taken down.

Voices for Voices Founder, Justin Alan Hayes:

That's excellent. That's excellent. Ellison, how does it make you feel that we're at where we're at or I guess where you came from to kind of the present time of going through what you went through and being kind of a down time and then kind of not kind of, but coming full circle and having the president of the United States sign the bill into law with you and your mom present. It just had to be incredible.

Speaker 3:

Yes, it absolutely was. It was really just such a full circle moment. I mean, I remember last year, when we were on this podcast just trying to get our story out, and being here again and now talking about how much growth and how much movement has been spread, it's really been amazing, especially because now we were fighting for protection and now we have that protection in place. We now have that ability to hold big tech and hold the perpetrator accountable, and that just really means so much, especially because we are able to protect the people that don't have the ability to share their voice and they don't have all of the opportunities that they are able to search for something better. So having this in place and having this being signed is really so awesome.

Voices for Voices Founder, Justin Alan Hayes:

So you also were, firstly, melania Trump's guest of honor at the State of Union address with President Trump. It truly is awesome just to see you're right next to her. It was just so cool to see you there and to show that importance and have not only President Trump but have the First Lady Melania her support, not only President Trump, but have the First Lady Melania her support and really, yeah, I mean having that support not just from you know, like the full, total support, and she usually doesn't sign bills into law, but for this particular law she signed it too and I thought that was so cool to see both of them, kind of joint effort.

Speaker 3:

Yes, absolutely, and especially when her office reached out and said that they wanted us to be a guest on the State of the Union as well as do a big roundtable event. Just having the First Lady's support on this bill, as well as the President, is just so reassuring and so validating, especially at first when everyone made it seem like we were overreacting. So being able to sit next to the First Lady at the President's State of the Union address and having both of them sign this bill is just such a rewarding experience and it really just shows that they're really for the people and that they're really you wanting better for America's children.

Voices for Voices Founder, Justin Alan Hayes:

Yeah, I mean it really gave me chills. I mean he even called you out by name, so it is definitely a worldwide issue to have you there. I thought it was so amazing and so cool and just knowing all the security and all that stuff you have to go through to obviously be anywhere near. We're a little bit used to that from prior visits, but for obviously somebody that wants to be near, obviously if I have to have some type of a background check and like all kind of things that we don't really think about, like you don't just show up and go, oh hi, like we're just going to do this. So what was it like at that roundtable with Melania sitting right next to her, and was it nerve-wracking, I mean, to have like so many important people like literally like watching you, like what you say. How was that experience too?

Speaker 3:

It was really crazy. I mean, I didn't really know and understand the full extent of what we were doing. I knew that there was going to be a roundtable and the First Lady was kind of supporting it, but I was not expecting her to be sitting right next to me and having such a big and important role. I mean, her first initiative, be Best, was all about protecting America's children and protecting young people. So when I first heard she had a sparked interest in this bill, I was shocked. But I did not understand how big of an impact and how big of a heart she had for this matter, which is so amazing of an impact, and how big of a heart she had for this matter, which is it's so amazing. So at that round table I was sitting there and she had walked in and I had just met her previously, right before, and she walked in and she sat next to me and I was speechless.

Speaker 3:

I I seriously didn't even know what to do. The first lady was sitting next to me and she she's so lovely and it really was such an honor to be seated there, especially with her on my left and francesca on my right. It was really. It was such an amazing experience and being at that round table with all of these important people that have a heart for this matter and that really are wanting and encouraging change in this sort of ai world and this sort of technology is is so important and being a part of that it really just means so much wow, uh, santa, how does it feel to see your, your daughter, uh, I mean, obviously you see her grow every day.

Voices for Voices Founder, Justin Alan Hayes:

but with this kind of public side too of where where things kind of started to where stan and you know, flanking the president as he's what, yourself as he's signing the the take it down act into the take it down law, yeah, I was just so proud of her I mean from where we've come when it's first happened and the pain that it caused us and the shame that it caused her, and she didn't do anything wrong.

Speaker 2:

You know, we came from just this this world of not having anything out there, not knowing what to do, not knowing how to protect her. To that moment of when he signed it in, it was just the most amazing feeling to think we had come this far and we got a law and so now we will have protection there. And to know that the First Lady and the President support this so much. It just means so much to us that our story and so many others out there they heard it and they did something about it, and so we just feel so blessed to have been a part of this and be able to push this through, and now we have healing. I mean this really has been a healing process for both of us, for her, for all the girls that it happened to, and so now it's going to happen again without some kind of consequence.

Voices for Voices Founder, Justin Alan Hayes:

That's great. I mean that's really a great story, because so many other things like, as you mentioned, they go on, they don't get addressed, they don't get people, don't get punished the way they should, it's just swept under the rug like it's nothing. And just to have this I mean I said it like several times, but really a full circle moment of where things started. And then to have such interest from the President of the United States versus the United States, I mean it doesn't get any better than that. So when you're in the Rose Garden and he's getting ready to sign and mentions your name again, how was that experience of being there? I know it was only maybe a minute or so, like for him actually to to sign it. Uh, but just how? How was that? Because it was a beautiful day and it wasn't indoors, it was outdoors and there was a lot, of, a lot, of, a lot of people there, a lot of reps there that wanted to be a part of it and see it. How was that feeling?

Speaker 3:

It was honestly amazing. I mean, the whole trip of DC that time was really. There was something else in the air. I mean there was justice, there was hope and it really that whole atmosphere was amazing. And I remember approaching the Rose Garden and seeing all of the roses and seeing how beautiful it was. It really it was so surreal, especially seeing how many people were there that were in support of this bill and it was really incredible seeing that community that all has a heart for this matter and seeing them unite and seeing them connect in this one place to just support the signing and to be there for this important bill being implemented.

Speaker 3:

And I remember having my seat and I remember looking up and seeing the First Lady and the President talk and I was just astonished. I could not believe that this was my reality. I could not believe that I was sitting. I was sitting right here and watching them and then next thing, you know, he was up there sharing my story, calling me out and asking me to stand up and I seriously it doesn't feel real. It seriously doesn't feel real and I'm so, so grateful that he has taken a heart for this and that he is he that he signed this. I mean this issue could have easily been swept under the rug and really couldn't have gotten anywhere, but with the help of the First Lady and with the many, many media appearances and everything that we have done, it really is just such a full circle moment. It's so healing.

Voices for Voices Founder, Justin Alan Hayes:

Absolutely, and I believe that was the first remarks that the first lady has given publicly since the inauguration or around around that time, so that to have her give remarks, to not just be present for for the moment, was just incredible. Do you happen to have a pen with you? Yeah, just uh. So it was a white one, right? Yeah?

Speaker 3:

this is the one, this is the one he used to actually sign it and it's it's the be best pens, which is the first lady's initiative and, although the although trump he was, although the president, he's the one that's really implementing it and signing it. The fact that the First Lady's also really took leadership on this and really helped push it out there and spread awareness and spread and just make movement, it's really just been so encouraging, especially because I feel like this whole situation falls right under her initiative. So having her be there in support of this is so awesome yeah, can you take the catwalks.

Voices for Voices Founder, Justin Alan Hayes:

I know it. It's like a thicker tip. It's not just yeah, cool, that's so awesome. And it was used one time and it was to sign your bill into law, like that is yeah, like I was like I don't know, like you to get a case or something.

Speaker 3:

Well, it's got to put it in the safe or something.

Voices for Voices Founder, Justin Alan Hayes:

Yeah, yeah, and so. So, at the present time and I think you're working, you're working on this previously, but you're not stopping here with this law Can the individual who did the AI deepfake with Ellison? Is he going to be able to be prosecuted now? Is there a statute of limitations? Do you have any idea?

Speaker 2:

Well, unfortunately, our law is a law now the Take it Down Act but we can't go back. It's not retro. So if he does this again, then he could be prosecuted under the Take it Down Act. So we're working on different things with that. So we're working with a girl who's making an AI app that will be a face recognition and it can go back from the time she was a baby to now, and so we'll be able they'll be able to pull any pictures off of the dark web, off of any social platform, and if it's still happening, then we'll be able to catch whoever that is. So if he's still doing it, then we'll be able to do something about that.

Speaker 2:

And so also our next steps are curriculum yeah, that's who I was getting into. Go ahead and touch on that, yeah, and also to law enforcement as well. So it's really important now that people understand what the law is and use it. So we want to make sure that everybody knows what an AI deep fake is, if it happens, what to do, how to get a hold of local law enforcement, what to use, those kind of things. So that's real important to us for next steps.

Voices for Voices Founder, Justin Alan Hayes:

Absolutely. And one of the earliest days of Voices for Voices we had. At our first event we had a speaker and she was sexually abused when she was young, but she didn't come forward until later in life and she kind of went about things similarly, just reached out, tried to get somebody to listen and at least in Massachusetts they were able to. I guess I don't know if it was to get the statute of limitations extended, but it's specific, I think, to Massachusetts and if it's all right, I was going to put her maybe in contact with you because it's similar and I think that, like, because she has a ton, a ton of work that she's done with legislators and in Massachusetts and I, I, I think it could be nothing but like a help, even if it's just like bouncing an idea off each other. So she, she was ecstatic because she's like is this the take it down act girl? And I was like, yeah, she's like I just so it's totally cool and I think, with you being a law changer and her being a law changer, just more good could potentially come from it.

Voices for Voices Founder, Justin Alan Hayes:

And she wrote a children's book about some of the things to look for in that with, and it was a family member and all that. Anyways, this is your moment. So I just wanted to ask that as it came up, because I wanted to. I don't want to just connect people and be like wait, wait, what's this? Like this is so the curriculum, like what's the process that you're going through? Like how does that even work?

Speaker 2:

So I came across a guy who's actually started I had already started writing something for AI. He came across our story and his background is technology and in the private school arena. So we've been working with him and hoping that he can take that what he's already done and put that into the public school arena. So we need it over both sides of it. So while we were there at the White House, we were able to meet with the First Lady's education person and be able to kind of introduce it to him and, hoping that this will be the next steps with her. Be Best is this curriculum that can help and make people aware. I mean, I really believe that we need to be proactive and not reactive to this situation, and we were forced to be reactive because we had never dreamed that this could happen. So now, with this curriculum hopefully being implemented, we can get going and helping others.

Voices for Voices Founder, Justin Alan Hayes:

Oh my God. Yeah, that's incredible. How does that feel? Ellison kind of again, just another. So you have the law and then the curriculum that it's going to continue to reach people, reach families, the people that really need to see and hear about it if they've been in the dark or under a rock for a period of time.

Speaker 3:

Well, I mean, this bill is just honestly like the first step in this whole arena. I mean, we finally have a law that addresses the situation and it can hold people accountable, as well as big tech. But now we're wanting to deeper our understanding and deeper research into the curriculum. I know my school didn't know what to do.

Speaker 3:

In so many schools and so many environments all over not only the US but the world, they don't know what to do and that's why a lot of situations like this aren't really being addressed, because there's seriously no sort of idea or concept or even anything that anything that addresses this. So schools have no idea what to do. So having this ai curriculum being um, being implemented into schools whether that's um, just a quick little video or a deeper um, a deeper assessment, anything really that it is important, especially to bring awareness to not only the students and know what, and to know what this is and the consequences if a student were to engage in this but also to the faculty, who who come across situations like this or a student confines in them for the situation. So having this AI curriculum is so important and it can prevent so many future cases from happening.

Voices for Voices Founder, Justin Alan Hayes:

Wow. So, as you sit here today and obviously we don't know what life is going to bring us in the future, but do you have a little bit of a weight lifted off, ellison and Miss Anna, just knowing that, okay, we're not done, that we're going to continue on, but this is a huge stepping stone and we have the support of the president, the first lady, and to know that you're going to be able to continue on and reach more people.

Speaker 3:

Yes, absolutely. I mean, it's been such a full circle moment. I mean I remember being in my bedroom not even wanting to go to school, and now I've traveled across the country bringing awareness and spreading more attention to this matter and even somehow getting a bill implemented. I seriously don't even know how this has been possible, but, with all glory to God, it's really been seriously so amazing and I can now look at this, look up the situation that happened to me, instead of being fearful and ashamed, but I can be proud of proud of myself and proud that my mom has pushed me to be able to do this and she's really, she's really been that voice and it's really taught me that even just a normal person's voice has the ability to move mountains yeah, and it's a, it's bipartisan, so so that that's huge and the amount of time as, as we spoke on another episode from Senator Cruz, get getting the support from from him to where we're at, was it like two years or so from reaching out to get?

Speaker 2:

his Well from the time I started reaching out, which would have been December of 2023.

Voices for Voices Founder, Justin Alan Hayes:

Yeah, it's been a year and a half.

Speaker 2:

But when we started talking about this last June, we were able to get this pushed into law a little less than a year, which I've heard. I'm not a lawmaker, but I've heard that that's like crazy fast.

Voices for Voices Founder, Justin Alan Hayes:

Yeah.

Speaker 2:

You know which I feel like I wish all laws could be that are needed to protect, could be pushed through that fast. But we feel very blessed and don't believe in any consequences. Know that. You know the Lord helped us to win favor and put us where we needed to be, right at the right time. So it's been incredible to watch that, watch that. And after, after the bill went through the um through the house and passed, yeah, that very next weekend one of the largest ai deep fake um apps went under, so they closed their doors completely. So we expect that to start happening more and more with these apps that are.

Voices for Voices Founder, Justin Alan Hayes:

Their only intent is to harm yeah, have you had any feedback from big tech like with you? I mean, I don't know, like, or is that just strictly at, like, the lawmaker level, where big tech of saying like yeah, like we should have done this before, or heard anything directly from them.

Speaker 2:

I think that at the legislation level legislator level that they are, you know, trying to work on that I do know that, that app that I was talking about with that lady. One of the things that it's going to do is when your picture comes up and, let's say, the picture of Elliston comes back and resurfaces again, it will be sent to her and she'll be able to say I don't want that up there, please report. And this app will report it to Big Tech and then also be able to track how quickly they're responding, and that can go directly to the government so they'll be able to know are these apps really doing what they're supposed to do? And that'll be another level of accountability.

Voices for Voices Founder, Justin Alan Hayes:

Excellent. We're getting close to our time for our episode. How can people learn more about the now law, the curriculum, just any information that people can follow along and hopefully garner additional support with the curriculum? Like different states have come into you and saying, yeah, we want to do this and and uh and that, so it's kind of like a branding for you.

Speaker 3:

Well, yeah go ahead well I have a public instagram and it's just ellistonberry, e-l-l-i-s-t-o-n-b-e-b-e-r-y, which just is all about my story and everything that my mom and I have done and really just spreading more awareness of the situation, and it's really about our whole journey.

Speaker 2:

Great, yeah, people can find her there. And then we're also working on a book as well. I'm not sure when that will be done, but when that comes around, we'll tell our story and give more about what people could do.

Voices for Voices Founder, Justin Alan Hayes:

Oh my gosh, that's exciting. Yeah, that's awesome. Well, thank you so much for your time and congratulations on getting things done and just being relentless, not taking no for an answer, just continuing on. That's a real inspiration to people to know that if you try, try and try and just have that perseverance, that again what, what God and Lord wants to happen, what will happen and just a it's an amazing, amazing story. So thank you again. So thank you again Allison, thank you again, ms Anna Tell, mark I said hi and all the best with LifeWare United. It's awesome to watch that growth as well.

Speaker 2:

Well, thank you for having us and thank you for walking this journey with us for the past year. We really appreciate your support and what you do.

Speaker 3:

Yes, we absolutely do.

Voices for Voices Founder, Justin Alan Hayes:

Thank you very much and we want to thank our viewers, our listeners here in the United States and around the world. 50-plus countries, 600-plus cities. It's really incredible. This story has just been a blessing to be able to have just a small part in being able to talk to individuals like Alistair de Mocena, who are law changers, and President Trump. First Lady Melania Trump, thank you so much for everything you have done and are doing and taking the Take it Down Act into the Take it Down law. So until next time, please be a voice for you or somebody in need.

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