Relating to civil liability for certain commercial entities who publish or distribute obscene material on the internet

This bill creates civil liability for certain commercial entities who publish or distribute certain material on the internet. The bill defines “covered platform”, “identifying information”, “information content provider”, “interactive computer service”, “obscene material”, “provider”, and “reasonable age verification”. The bill makes a covered platform liable if the covered platform fails to perform reasonable age verification of individuals attempting to access obscene material published or distributed by the covered platform and the failure allows access by a minor to the obscene material. Reasonable age verification includes the use of government-issued identification, financial documents or other documents that are reliable proxies for age, or any other commercially reasonable and reliable method. Reasonable age verification may be conducted by a third party, and the bill permits the use of cryptographic techniques to preserve anonymity and protect privacy. A covered platform or third party that performs required reasonable age verification is prohibited from retaining an individual’s identifying information after completing the individual’s reasonable age verification, and from distributing, selling, or disseminating an individual’s identifying information obtained through the performance of reasonable age verification. A covered platform or third party is subject to punitive and actual damages resulting from a minor’s access to obscene material, from the distribution, sale, or other dissemination of an individual’s identifying information obtained through the performance of reasonable age verification, or from the retention of identifying information, plus reasonable attorney fees and costs. Punitive damages for a violation of the bill’s provisions cannot exceed triple the aggregate amount of a plaintiff’s reasonable attorney fees and costs. The bill’s provisions are not to be construed as to impose civil liability on a user of an interactive computer service on the internet. The bill’s provisions are not to be construed as to impose liability on a provider solely for providing access or connection to a covered platform, or to obscene material on an internet site or in a facility, system, or network not under the provider’s control to the extent the provider is not responsible for the creation of the obscene material. The bill may be enforced exclusively through private civil actions, and the state and political subdivisions are prohibited from enforcing the provisions of the bill.