House Bill 1091

AN ACT TO REQUIRE A COMMERCIAL ENTITY THAT PUBLISHES MATERIAL HARMFUL TO MINORS ON THE INTERNET TO BE HELD CIVILLY LIABLE WHENEVER THE ENTITY FAILS TO PERFORM REASONABLE AGE VERIFICATION METHODS ON PERSONS SEEKING ACCESS TO THE MATERIAL; TO PROHIBIT A COMMERCIAL ENTITY FROM RETAINING IDENTIFYING INFORMATION OF PERSONS SEEKING ACCESS TO THE MATERIAL; TO DECLARE LEGISLATIVE FINDINGS; TO DEFINE CERTAIN TERMS; AND FOR RELATED PURPOSES.

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

SECTION 1. (1) The Legislature finds and declares the following:

(a) Pornography is creating a public health crisis and having a corroding influence on minors.

(b) Due to advances in technology, the universal availability of the Internet, and limited age verification requirements, minors are exposed to pornography earlier in age. (c) Pornography contributes to the sexualization of teens and prepubescent children and may lead to low self-esteem, body image disorders, an increase in problematic sexual activity at younger ages, and increased desire among adolescents to engage in risky sexual behavior.

(d) Pornography also may impact brain development and functioning, contribute to emotional and medical illnesses, shape deviant sexual arousal, and lead to difficulty in forming or maintaining positive, intimate relationships, as well as promoting problematic or harmful sexual behaviors and addiction.

(2) The purpose of this section is to provide a civil remedy for damages against commercial entities that distribute material harmful to minors.

(3) For purposes of this section, the following words and phrases have the meaning ascribed in this subsection unless the context clearly requires otherwise:

(a) "Commercial entity" means a corporation, limited liability company, partnership, limited partnership, sole proprietorship or other legally recognized entity.

(b) "Distribute" means to issue, sell, give, provide, deliver, transfer, transmute, circulate or disseminate by any means.

(c) "Internet" means the international computer network of both federal and non-federal interoperable packet switched data networks.

(d) "Material harmful to minors" means all of the following:

(i) Material that the average person would find, applying contemporary community standards and taking the material as a whole and with respect to minors, is designed to appeal to, or is designed to pander to, the prurient interest;

(ii) Material that exploits, is devoted to, or principally consists of descriptions of actual, simulated, or animated display or depiction of any of the following in a manner patently offensive with respect to minors:

1. Pubic hair, anus, vulva, genitals or nipple of the female breast;

2. Touching, caressing or fondling of nipples, breasts, buttocks, anuses or genitals; or

3. Sexual intercourse, masturbation, sodomy, bestiality, oral copulation, flagellation, excretory functions, exhibitions or any other sexual act; and

(iii) Material, when taken as a whole, lacking serious literary, artistic, political or scientific value for minors.

(e) "Minor" means a person under the age of eighteen (18) years.

(f) "News-gathering organization" means any of the following:

(i) A news publication or news source of current news and public interest, whether printed or on an online or mobile platform; or

(ii) A radio broadcast station, television broadcast station, cable television operator or wire service.

(g) "Publish" means to communicate or make information available to another person or entity on a publicly available Internet website.

(h) "Reasonable age verification method" means a method to verify that the person seeking to access the material is eighteen (18) years of age or older by using one (1) of the following methods:

(i) Provide an identification card in electronic format, as provided for in Section 45-35-3; or

(ii) Require the person attempting to access the material to comply with a commercial age verification system that verifies in one or more of the following ways:

1. Government-issued identification; or

2. A commercially reasonable method that relies on public or private transactional data to verify that the age of the person attempting to access the information is at least eighteen (18) years.

(i) "Substantial portion" means more than thirty-three and one-third percent (33 1/3%) of total material on a website which is material harmful to minors.

(j) "Transactional data" means a sequence of information that documents an exchange, agreement or transfer between an individual, commercial entity or third party used for the purpose of satisfying a request or event. Transactional data includes, but is not limited to, records from mortgage, education and employment entities.

(4) (a) A commercial entity that knowingly and intentionally publishes or distributes material harmful to minors on the internet from a website that contains a substantial portion of such material must be held liable if the entity fails to perform reasonable age verification methods to verify the age of individuals attempting to access the material.

(b) A commercial entity or third party that performs the required age verification may not retain any identifying information of the individual after access has been granted to the material.

(c) (i) A commercial entity that is found to have violated this section is liable to an individual for damages resulting from a minor's accessing the material, including court costs and reasonable attorney fees as ordered by the court.

(ii) A commercial entity that is found to knowingly have retained identifying information of the individual after access has been granted to the individual is liable to the individual for damages resulting from retaining the identifying information, including court costs and reasonable attorney fees as ordered by the court.

(5) (a) This section does not apply to a bona fide news or public interest broadcast, website video, report, or event and may not be construed to affect the rights of a news-gathering organization.

(b) An Internet service provider or its affiliates or subsidiaries, search engine, or cloud service provider may not be held to have violated this section solely for providing 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, to the extent the provider is not responsible for the creation of the content of the communication that constitutes material harmful to minors.

SECTION 2. This act shall take effect and be in force from and after July 1, 2023.