Plain English Breakdown
The effective date is missing from the provided official metadata and text excerpts.
AB-621: Deepfake Pornography Law
This law updates rules about creating or sharing fake sexual images made with digital tools, adds protections for minors who were depicted as children when the material was created, and increases fines.
What This Bill Does
- Creates a legal way for people to sue if someone makes or shares fake nude or sexual images of them without consent.
- Adds specific protection against making these images when the person shown was under age 18 at the time they were made.
- Allows lawsuits against people who knowingly help others break this law by providing services that let deepfake sites keep running.
- Sets a rule where service providers are assumed to be breaking the law if they do not stop helping these sites within 30 days of getting proof from a victim or public prosecutor.
- Raises the maximum money damages from $30,000 to $50,000 for standard violations and from $150,000 to $250,000 for malicious ones.
Who It Names or Affects
- People whose faces or bodies are used in fake sexual images without their permission.
- Individuals who create or share these digital images.
- Companies that provide services like hosting to deepfake pornography websites.
- Public attorneys authorized by the state to file civil lawsuits under this law.
Terms To Know
- Digitized sexually explicit material
- Any visual image, photo, or video created or changed using digital tools that shows a person naked or in sexual situations they did not actually do.
- Depicted individual
- A real person who appears to be performing an act in the fake material but did not actually perform it.
- Statutory damages
- Specific amounts of money set by law that a court can order someone to pay as punishment for breaking this rule.
Limits and Unknowns
- The official text does not state the specific date when these new rules officially begin.
- The bill describes how service providers are presumed guilty after 30 days but does not list every type of evidence required to prove they knew about the illegal activity.