Pornographic internet websites.

Plain English Breakdown

The bill's final approval and implementation details are still unclear despite passing the legislature.

Rules for Pornographic Websites

The bill requires operators of pornographic websites to take reasonable steps to ensure that content does not include real individuals and mandates users to provide specific information before uploading sexually explicit material.

What This Bill Does

• Requires website operators to exercise ordinary care and reasonable diligence to prevent the display or upload of sexually explicit content featuring real individuals.
• Mandates users to submit specific information, including a statement under penalty of perjury, about each individual depicted in uploaded sexually explicit content before uploading any pictures or videos.
• Defines terms like 'depicted person' for clarity.
• Allows depicted individuals and public prosecutors to sue if rules are broken.
• Adds penalties for knowingly providing false information.

Who It Names or Affects

• Operators of pornographic websites
• Users who upload content to these sites

Terms To Know

Depicted person

A real individual shown in sexually explicit material on a website.

Limits and Unknowns

• Does not specify how operators will check if content includes real people.
• The bill has passed the legislature but its final approval and implementation details are unclear.
• It does not address how to handle existing content that might already include real individuals.

Official Summary Text

AB 1705, as introduced, Bauer-Kahan.
Pornographic internet websites.
Existing law generally regulates obscene content on internet websites, including requiring a social media platform to provide a means for a user who is a California resident to report material to the social media platform that the user reasonably believes is child sexual abuse material and prohibiting an operator of an internet website directed to minors from advertising obscene matter to minors. Under existing law, a person who distributes an image of an intimate body part or act of sexual intercourse of an identifiable person, under specified circumstances that include an agreement or understanding that the image would remain private, is guilty of a crime.
This bill would require an operator of a pornographic internet website, among other things, to exercise ordinary care and reasonable diligence to ensure that each instance of sexually explicit
content displayed on the operator’s pornographic internet website does not include a depicted individual. The bill would define terms, including “depicted person,” for its purposes.
This bill would also require an operator to exercise ordinary care and take reasonable steps to ensure that each instance of sexually explicit content uploaded to the operator’s pornographic internet website does not include a depicted individual. The bill would require a user of a pornographic internet website, before uploading sexually explicit content, to submit specific information to the operator, including a statement certifying, under penalty of perjury, that each individual depicted in the sexually explicit content meets certain criteria. Under the bill, knowingly providing false information in the user statement would be punishable as an infraction with a specified fine. By expanding the crime of perjury and creating a new crime, this bill would impose a state-mandated local
program.
This bill would authorize a depicted individual and a public prosecutor to bring a civil action to enforce these provisions, as prescribed.
The California Constitution requires the state to reimburse local agencies and school districts for certain costs mandated by the state. Statutory provisions establish procedures for making that reimbursement.
This bill would provide that no reimbursement is required by this act for a specified reason.

Current Bill Text

Download Bill PDF