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 authorize a depicted individual and a public prosecutor to bring a civil action to enforce these provisions, as prescribed.