TITLE 6

ACTIONS IN PARTICULAR CASES

CHAPTER 38

LIABILITY FOR PUBLISHERS AND DISTRIBUTORS OF MATERIAL HARMFUL TO MINORS ON THE INTERNET

6-3803.  intentional publication or distribution of material harmful to minors on the internet. (1) Any commercial entity that knowingly and intentionally publishes material that is harmful to minors on the internet from a website that contains a substantial portion of such material shall be liable if the entity fails to perform reasonable age verification to verify the age of individuals attempting to access the material or, after verifying the age of the individual, provides a minor access to the material.

(2)  Any commercial entity or third party that takes steps to perform a reasonable age verification required pursuant to this chapter shall not retain any identifying information of the individual after age verification has been performed.

(3)  This chapter shall not apply to any bona fide news or public interest broadcast, website video, report, or event and shall not be construed to affect the rights of any news-gathering organizations.

(4)  No internet service provider, affiliate of an internet service provider, subsidiary of an internet service provider, search engine provider, web browser provider, smart device manufacturer, computer manufacturer, or cloud service provider shall be held to have violated the provisions of this chapter solely for providing access or connection to or from a website or other information or content on the internet or a facility, system, or network not under that provider’s control, including transmission, downloading, intermediate storage, or access software, to the extent such provider is not responsible for the creation of the content of the communication that constitutes material harmful to minors. However, an interactive computer service is subject to the provisions of this section if it knowingly benefits from:

(a)  Being the information content provider for a commercial entity that knowingly and intentionally publishes material harmful to minors in violation of subsection (1) of this section; or

(b)  Being in a venture with a commercial entity that knowingly and intentionally publishes material harmful to minors in violation of subsection (1) of this section.

(5)  Nothing in this chapter shall be construed to create a conflict with applicable federal law.

History:

[6-3803, added 2024, ch. 113, sec. 1, p. 489.]