Politics
How a deepfake changed Brooke Curry’s life, and what she’s doing about it
From the outside looking in, Bishop Kenny senior Brooke Curry has an idyllic life. She’s a cheerleader at the Jacksonville parochial school, and is the daughter of former Mayor Lenny Curry and Molly Curry.
But while her real life was going just great, the virtual world presented a different challenge in July 2023, when she was a rising junior at BK.
Brooke Curry had just finished a game of pickleball with friends when she checked her phone, and “it was flooded with notifications from people I knew and people I didn’t know, sending me this photo that had been taken off my Instagram by a boy I didn’t know.”
“He used AI to generate a fake nude of me and posted it to his main Snapchat story,” she related. “I didn’t know why he chose to pick me out of all people. Never met him. Never spoke with him. We don’t have mutual friends.”
Meanwhile, the picture was “spreading like wildfire.” And Brooke Curry was tagged, indicating an extra layer of malice.
She told her parents. Former Jacksonville Mayor Curry reached out to Sheriff TK Waters and State Attorney Melissa Nelson thereafter to see what recourse he had.
But the story didn’t stop there.
A couple of weeks later, someone contacted Brooke Curry to let her know that yet another person was going to recirculate the image to “embarrass” her.
“Multiple people had the photo. And I was basically getting a warning that they want to use it against me,” she related. “That’s when I really realized that a bunch of people have the photo. To this day, I don’t know who has it, what they could do with it, where it’s put out.”
To this end, Speaker Pro Tempore Wyman Duggan introduced “Brooke’s Law” (HB 1161), which is designed to require internet platforms to remove altered sexual depictions and copies of such depictions from their platform upon request of the victim.
“It surfaced on multiple platforms, and I didn’t have the option of going to the platform to have it taken down, so it had been up for hours on end, which is why I think it’s very important for people who are going through this to be able to take charge and have the platform take it down.”
Brooke Curry’s identity wasn’t widely known before Monday in association with the bill. But she will be in Tallahassee later on Monday to tell her story to the Commerce Committee, the final stop before the full House considers it.
That’s not easy for her.
She notes that she lived through this once and in testifying, now has to “relive it.”
“But I’m looking at the bigger picture of how it can help a lot of people become aware about this issue that people deal with every day,” she said. “At the time, I felt like there was nothing I could do. Once I saw that there were things that can be done and people that could help, I wanted to extend that to other victims.”
If “Brooke’s Law” passes, other victims will have recourse that she did not in 2023.
The legislation would require internet platforms to develop and prominently promote a policy by the end of 2025 for removing deepfake images and videos of this type after someone is victimized in this way.
The bill, which envisions the Florida Unfair Trade and Deceptive Practices Act as its enforcement mechanism, expands on legislation championed by former Senate Democratic Leader Lauren Book, which imposed criminal and civil penalties by creating law to force sites to take the objectionable image down.
The Senate version of the proposal (SB 1400) will be heard in its final committee on Thursday.
If this language becomes law, issues could be polled. Races could not.
New language proposed for a Senate higher education bill could impact public polls in Florida.
Sen. Alexis Calatayud proposed an amendment to her bill (SB 1726) that is designed to severely restrict the topics on which university polling operations can conduct surveys.
“The Board of Governors shall adopt regulations prohibiting universities that conduct public opinion survey research from polling activities related to candidates for any federal, state, or local office,” the amendment reads.
While the Calatayud proposal says they may “conduct survey research to measure opinions and inform the public about social, political, and economic issues unrelated to candidate preference,” the proposal could dramatically impact operations from the University of North Florida’s Public Opinion Research Lab (UNF PORL) and Florida Atlantic University (FAU).
“It’s got my attention,” said UNF PORL’s Michael Binder of the “out of the blue” proposal that “wasn’t on people’s radar” but is poised to be attached to a bill “midway through the Session.”
Binder believes the timing of the amendment is no accident.
“If they stick it on that bill, that bill’s going to pass.”
Binder said “candidate stuff” is what drives response to polls “from media and consumers of media” and that “candidates matter.”
“Look at Donald Trump. He’s not just a basket of policies,” Binder said.
Another university pollster had less to say.
“We don’t comment on proposed legislation as it would be too speculative to do so before the process is complete,” said FAU’s Joshua Glanzer.
Polls from UNF and FAU drew a lot of national attention in recent cycles, paralleling Florida’s increased prominence in the political world. Surveys without candidates included likely wouldn’t have that kind of juice.
We reached out to Calatayud before publication, but have yet to get a response.
Boca Raton City Councilwoman Yvette Drucker says she is bringing in big bucks in her bid to replace Democratic Sen. Lori Berman.
Drucker sent out a news release highlighting her fundraising numbers as she seeks the Senate District 26 seat. That release said she brought in just over $23,000 to her campaign account between Jan. 1 and March 31, and another $86,000 through her political committee, Drucker for Florida.
“I’m excited and energized by the outpouring of support from our community,” Drucker said in a statement. “These contributions reflect our shared vision for a Florida that supports seniors and families, strengthens education, protects our precious environment, and stands up to the out-of-touch extremism coming out of Tallahassee. I’m ready to bring thoughtful leadership to the State Senate.”
Drucker, a Democrat, announced her bid to succeed Berman last year. Upon filing, she raised nearly $47,000 in outside money through her two accounts and chipped in a $25,000 loan on top of it.
Since the middle of last year, she hadn’t actively fundraised much until the first quarter of 2025.
Berman, who can’t run again due to term limits, has endorsed Drucker as her preferred successor and praised her fundraising prowess.
“Yvette Drucker has been working tirelessly on her campaign, gaining strong support from both community leaders and voters across the district. It’s no surprise that her fundraising efforts are equally impressive.”
Drucker may need the cash. Former Democratic Rep. David Silvers has also filed paperwork with the state to run in SD 26, setting up a Democratic Primary. And former Republican Rep. Rick Roth has also filed, meaning the Democratic nominee will face an established lawmaker with likely access to serious money in the General Election.
Berman won re-election in 2022 by just over 9 points, giving the GOP hope that they can flip the seat if they keep up their statewide electoral dominance seen in the last two cycles.
Ducker won a seat on the Boca Raton City Council in March 2021. She then earned re-election with 77% support.
Drucker also serves on the Palm Beach County Transportation Planning Agency Executive Board, the Florida and Palm Beach League of Cities, the National League of Cities, the Women in Municipal Government (WIMG) Committee, and the Hispanic Elected Local Officials (HELO). She has also previously served on the City of Boca Raton Education Task Force.
She has also served in several other community roles, including as Statewide Public Affairs (SPAC) Chair for a coalition of 23 member Florida Junior Leagues, President of the Boca Raton Historical Society and Executive Board Member of the Junior League of Boca Raton.
SD 26 covers portions of southern Palm Beach County, including Boca Raton and Delray Beach in the east and stretching westward to South Bay and Belle Glade.
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