Relating to the creation of artificial sexual material harmful to minors, the official text

H.B. No. 581

AN ACT

relating to the creation of artificial sexual material harmful to

minors.

BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:

SECTION 1. The heading to Chapter 129B, Civil Practice and

Remedies Code, is amended to read as follows:

CHAPTER 129B. LIABILITY RELATED TO SEXUAL MATERIAL HARMFUL TO [FOR

ALLOWING] MINORS [TO ACCESS PORNOGRAPHIC MATERIAL]

SECTION 2. Section 129B.001, Civil Practice and Remedies

Code, is amended by amending Subdivision (1) and adding Subdivision

(1-a) to read as follows:

(1) "Artificial sexual material harmful to minors"

means computer-generated sexual material harmful to minors that was

produced, adapted, or modified using an artificial intelligence

application or other computer software in which a person is

recognizable as an actual person by the person's face, likeness, or

other distinguishing characteristic, such as a unique birthmark or

other recognizable feature.

(1-a) "Commercial entity" includes a corporation,

limited liability company, partnership, limited partnership, sole

proprietorship, or other legally recognized business entity.

SECTION 3. The heading to Section 129B.002, Civil Practice

and Remedies Code, is amended to read as follows:

Sec. 129B.002. PUBLICATION AND CREATION OF MATERIAL HARMFUL

TO MINORS.

SECTION 4. Section 129B.002, Civil Practice and Remedies

Code, is amended by adding Subsections (a-1) and (a-2) and amending

Subsection (b) to read as follows:

(a-1) Except as provided by Subsection (a-2), a commercial

entity that operates an Internet website with a publicly

accessible tool for creating artificial sexual material harmful to

minors or otherwise makes publicly available an application for

creating sexual material harmful to minors shall use reasonable age

verification methods as described by Section 129B.003 to verify an

individual attempting to access the tool is 18 years of age or

older.

(a-2) Subsection (a-1) does not apply to a commercial entity

that:

(1) includes a prohibition against the generation of

artificial sexual material harmful to minors in the entity's terms

and conditions or use policies that must be acknowledged before a

user is granted access; and

(2) takes affirmative steps to limit the creation of

artificial sexual material harmful to minors through technological

tools such as training an application or software creating

artificial images to identify likely sexual material, providing

effective reporting tools, filtering likely sexual material,

filtering sexually explicit content generated by artificial

intelligence before the material is shown to users, or filtering

sexually explicit images from the entity's artificial intelligence

dataset before the dataset is used to train the artificial

intelligence.

(b) A commercial entity that performs the age verification

required by Subsection (a) or (a-1) or a third party that performs

the age verification required by Subsection (a) or (a-1) may not

retain any identifying information of the individual.

SECTION 5. Section 129B.003(b), Civil Practice and Remedies

Code, is amended to read as follows:

(b) A commercial entity required to use reasonable age

verification methods under Section 129B.002 [that knowingly and

intentionally publishes or distributes material on an Internet

website] or a third party that performs age verification under this

chapter shall require an individual to:

(1) provide digital identification; or

(2) comply with a commercial age verification system

that verifies age using:

(A) government-issued identification; or

(B) a commercially reasonable method that relies

on public or private transactional data to verify the age of an

individual.

SECTION 6. Chapter 129B, Civil Practice and Remedies Code,

is amended by adding Section 129B.0045 to read as follows:

Sec. 129B.0045. REQUIREMENTS FOR SOURCES OF ARTIFICIAL

SEXUAL MATERIAL HARMFUL TO MINORS. (a) Except as provided by

Subsection (b), a commercial entity that operates an Internet

website with a publicly accessible tool for creating artificial

sexual material harmful to minors or otherwise makes publicly

available an application for creating artificial sexual material

harmful to minors shall ensure that an individual used as a source

for the material:

(1) is 18 years of age or older; and

(2) has consented to the use of the individual's face

and body as a source for the material.

(b) This section does not apply to a commercial entity

described by Section 129B.002(a-2).

SECTION 7. Section 129B.005(b), Civil Practice and Remedies

Code, is amended to read as follows:

(b) An Internet service provider, or its affiliates or

subsidiaries, a search engine, or a cloud service provider may not

be held to have violated this chapter solely for providing access or

connection to or from a website or other information or content on

the Internet or on a facility, system, or network not under that

provider's control, including transmission, downloading,

intermediate storage, access software, or other services to the

extent the provider or search engine is not responsible for the

creation of the content that constitutes sexual material harmful to

minors or artificial sexual material harmful to minors.

SECTION 8. Section 129B.006(b), Civil Practice and Remedies

Code, is amended to read as follows:

(b) A civil penalty imposed under this section for a

violation of Section 129B.002, [or] 129B.003, or 129B.0045 may be

in an amount equal to not more than the total, if applicable, of:

(1) $10,000 per day that the entity operates an

Internet website or makes available an application in violation of

the age verification requirements of this chapter;

(2) $10,000 per instance when the entity retains

identifying information in violation of Section 129B.002(b); and

(3) if, because of the entity's violation of the age

verification requirements of this chapter, one or more minors

accesses sexual material harmful to minors, an additional amount of

not more than $250,000.

SECTION 9. This Act takes effect September 1, 2025.

______________________________
______________________________

President of the Senate
Speaker of the House

I certify that H.B. No. 581 was passed by the House on April

24, 2025, by the following vote: Yeas 146, Nays 0, 2 present, not

voting; and that the House concurred in Senate amendments to H.B.

No. 581 on May 28, 2025, by the following vote: Yeas 133, Nays 1, 2

present, not voting.

______________________________

Chief Clerk of the House

I certify that H.B. No. 581 was passed by the Senate, with

amendments, on May 22, 2025, by the following vote: Yeas 31, Nays

0.

______________________________

Secretary of the Senate

APPROVED: __________________

Date

__________________

Governor