BILL NUMBER: S9176
SPONSOR: MAY
 
TITLE OF BILL:
An act to amend the civil rights law, in relation to private rights of
action for certain unlawfully disseminated images or depictions of indi-
viduals
 
PURPOSE OR GENERAL IDEA OF BILL:
This bill sets statutory damages for violations of this statute and
expands on what entities are liable for hosting content that violations
this statute
 
SUMMARY OF PROVSIONS:
Section 1 amends section 52-b of the civil rights law, as amended by
section 3 of subpart A of part MM of chapter 58 of the laws of 2024 to
clarify that these actions are illegal regardless of intent
Section 2 amends Subdivision 2 of section 52-b of the civil rights law,
as added by chapter 109 of the laws of 2019 to add statutory damages
Section 3 amends Subdivision 5 of section 52-c of the civil rights law,
as added by chapter 304 of the laws of 2020 by adding statutory damages
Section 4 amends section 52-b of the civil rights law, as amended by
section 3 of subpart A of part MM of chapter 58 of the laws of 2024 to
expand on what entities are liable for hosting content that violate this
statute
Section 5 amends section 52-c of the civil rights law, as added by chap-
ter 304 of the laws of 2020 to what entities are liable for hosting
content that violations this statute
 
JUSTIFICATION:
At the start of 2026, an unfortunate new online trend exploded. Widely
accessible artificial intelligence consumer programs were used by thou-
sands to generate realistic graphic deep-fake images of uncountable
numbers of individuals. The legislature has previously taken action to
ban this activity. This bill expands on that statute to make it more
effective to apply to the grotesque content we are seeing today, clari-
fying what entities are liable for by hosting this content, and specify-
ing that anyone who has been harmed in this state can sue under these
laws.
By setting statutory damages, the legislature provides a clear remedy
that will further deter such practices. Additionally, this bill makes it
easier for victims to obtain redress for having their personal content
used to generate non-consensual graphic images.
 
PRIOR LEGISLATIVE HISTORY:
New bill
 
FISCAL IMPLICATIONS FOR STATE AND LOCAL GOVERNMENTS:
None
 
EFFECTIVE DATE:
Immediately

Statutes affected:
S9176: 52-b civil rights law, 52-b(1) civil rights law, 52-b(2) civil rights law, 52-c civil rights law, 52-c(5) civil rights law, 52-b(5) civil rights law, 52-c(2) civil rights law