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ARIZONA STATE SENATE
Fifty-Seventh Legislature, Second Regular Session
sexual material; consent; synthetic depiction
Purpose
Requires commercial entities that publish or distribute sexual material on the internet to obtain age and consent verification from individuals depicted in the material. Subjects commercial entities that do not obtain such verification to civil liability for damages.
Background
Statute requires commercial entities that publish or distribute sexual material on an internet website to use age verification methods to ensure that persons who attempt to access the material are at least 18 years old. Age verification requirements do not apply to: 1) websites where less than one-third of the content is sexual material; 2) a bona fide news broadcast or public internet broadcast, website video, report or event; and 3) material that has serious literary, artistic, political or scientific value for minors when taken as a whole. Age verification methods must not allow for identifying information to be transmitted to any government entity and a commercial entity may not retain any identifying information. Entities that fail to implement age verification methods or that unlawfully retain identifying information may be subject to civil penalties (A.R.S. § 18-701).
It is unlawful for a person to intentionally disclose an image of another person who is identifiable from the image itself, or from information displayed in connection with the image, if: 1) the person in the image is depicted in a state of nudity or is engaged in specific sexual activities; 2) the depicted person has a reasonable expectation of privacy; and 3) the image is disclosed with the intent to harm, harass, intimidate, threaten or coerce the depicted person. A violation is classified as a class 5 felony, or a class 4 felony if the disclosure occurs through electronic means, or a class 1 misdemeanor if the disclosure is threatened but does not actually occur. An image is defined as a photograph, videotape, film, digital recording or realistic pictorial representation, which means an image that is created or modified to reasonably appear to be an actual image of an identifiable person depicted in a state of nudity or engaged in specific sexual activities that did no actually occur (A.R.S. § 13-1425).
There is no anticipated fiscal impact to the state General Fund associated with this legislation.
Provisions
1. Requires a commercial entity that knowingly and intentionally publishes or distributes sexual material on an internet website, or allows for such publication or distribution, to:
a) require each person who uploads or places the sexual material on an internet website to verify, using reasonable consent verification methods, that each individual depicted in the material has consented to the creation, distribution and publication of the material and was at least 18 years old at the time of its creation;
b) maintain records of the verification for at least seven years, subject to inspection by the Attorney General (AG); and
c) implement reasonable measures to prevent the uploading of sexual material that does not have verified consent, including automated detection tools where feasible.
2. Prohibits commercial entities from retaining any identifying information of the depicted person after the verification is complete, except as required for recordkeeping purposes.
3. Prohibits a commercial entity from causing or allowing any identifying information to be transmitted to any government entity.
4. Stipulates that these requirements do not apply to:
a) a news or public interest broadcast or publication; and
b) material that is destituted for bona fide scientific, medical or educational purposes;
c) an internet service provider, affiliate or subsidiary of an internet service provider, search engine or cloud service provider that solely provides 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, access software or other services, to the extent that the provider is not responsible for the creation or direct hosting of the sexual material.
5. Allows the AG or a person who is depicted in the sexual material without consent to bring a civil action for enforcement.
6. Subjects a commercial entity that publishes or distributes sexual material on the internet without obtaining verified consent to:
a) a civil penalty of $10,000 for each day of the violation;
b) actual damages;
c) costs and reasonable attorney fees; and
d) additional relief, including injunctive relief.
7. Allows the AG to seek additional civil penalties of up to $250,000 if a minor is depicted in the sexual material.
8. Defines reasonable verification methods as any commercially reasonable method that is regularly used by businesses to verify consent, without requiring or allowing the use of any government issued-digital identification system, including an affidavit attesting to the age of each depicted person, verification through an independent third-party, and any other commercially reasonable method that does not retain identifying information after verification is complete.
9. Modifies the definition of image, as it relates to the unlawful disclosure of nude images, to include a synthetic depiction of an identifiable individual.
10. Defines synthetic depiction as any visual depiction that is created or altered through the use of artificial intelligence, digital manipulation or other technology and that appears to depict an identifiable individual but that does not represent an actual event or conduct involving that individual.
11. Defines identifiable individual, commercial entity, consent, direct hosting, distribute, publish, and sexual material.
12. Makes technical and conforming changes.
13. Becomes effective on the general effective date.
House Action
JUD 1/21/26 DP 7-1-0-1
AII 1/29/26 DPA 5-0-2-0
3rd Read 2/23/26 41-16-3
Prepared by Senate Research
March 2, 2026
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