WI
Wisconsin Senate Bill SB130

Wisconsin 2025-2026 Regular Session

Wisconsin Senate Bill SB130 Compare Versions

Only one version of the bill is available at this time.
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11 2025 - 2026 LEGISLATURE
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44 2025 SENATE BILL 130
55 March 14, 2025 - Introduced by Senators WANGGAARD, FEYEN, JACQUE and NASS,
66 cosponsored by Representatives GOEBEN, B. JACOBSON, PENTERMAN,
77 KREIBICH, DITTRICH, ALLEN, KNODL, WICHGERS, MURPHY, BRILL, MURSAU
88 and BEHNKE. Referred to Committee on Mental Health, Substance Abuse
99 Prevention, Children and Families.
1010
1111 ***AUTHORS SUBJECT TO CHANGE***
1212 AN ACT to create 100.76 of the statutes; relating to: the distribution of
1313 certain material on the Internet.
1414 Analysis by the Legislative Reference Bureau
1515 This bill prohibits business entities from knowingly and intentionally
1616 publishing or distributing material harmful to minors on the Internet on a website
1717 that contains a substantial portion of such material, unless the business entity
1818 performs a reasonable age verification method to verify the age of individuals
1919 attempting to access the website. XMaterial harmful to minorsY is defined in the
2020 bill to include material 1) that is designed to appeal to prurient interests, 2) that
2121 principally consists of descriptions or depictions of actual or simulated sexual acts
2222 or body parts including pubic areas, genitals, buttocks, and female nipples, and 3)
2323 that lacks serious literary, artistic, political, or scientific value for minors. In the
2424 bill, a Xreasonable age verification methodY includes various methods whereby the
2525 business entity may verify that an individual seeking to access the material is not a
2626 minor. Under the bill, persons that perform reasonable age verification methods
2727 may not knowingly retain identifying information of the individual attempting to
2828 access the website after the individual[s access has been granted or denied. The bill
2929 also requires a business entity that knowingly and intentionally publishes or
3030 distributes material harmful to minors on the Internet from a website that contains
3131 a substantial portion of such material to prevent persons from accessing the
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3838 website from an internet protocol address or internet protocol address range that is
3939 linked to or known to be a virtual private network system or provider.
4040 In addition, this bill prohibits business entities from knowingly and
4141 intentionally publishing or distributing obscene material or an obscene depiction of
4242 a purported child on the Internet. XObscene materialY is defined to mean a writing,
4343 picture, film, or other recording that the average person, applying contemporary
4444 community standards, would find appeals to the prurient interest if taken as a
4545 whole, describes or shows sexual conduct in a patently offensive way, and lacks
4646 serious literary, artistic, political, educational, or scientific value if taken as a
4747 whole. XObscene depiction of a purported childY is defined to mean a visual
4848 representation that appears to depict an actual child in the form of a photograph,
4949 film, motion picture, or digital or computer-generated image or picture, that the
5050 average person, applying contemporary community standards, would find appeals
5151 to prurient interests if taken as a whole, describes or shows sexually explicit
5252 conduct in a patently offensive way, and lacks serious literary, artistic, political,
5353 educational, or scientific value if taken as a whole.
5454 A person that violates the provisions of the bill may be subject to civil liability
5555 for damages and the payment of court costs and reasonable attorney fees.
5656 Sovereign immunity may not be raised as an affirmative defense to a civil action
5757 brought alleging a violation of a provision of the bill.
5858 The people of the state of Wisconsin, represented in senate and assembly, do
5959 enact as follows:
6060 SECTION 1. 100.76 of the statutes is created to read:
6161 100.76 Publishing and distributing certain materials to minors. (1)
6262 DEFINITIONS. In this section:
6363 (a) XBusiness entityY means a proprietorship, partnership, firm, business
6464 trust, joint venture, syndicate, corporation, limited liability company, or business
6565 association, including all wholly owned subsidiaries, majority-owned subsidiaries,
6666 parent companies, or affiliates of such an organization or entity.
6767 (b) XDistributeY means to issue, sell, give, provide, deliver, transfer,
6868 transmute, circulate, or disseminate by any means.
6969 (c) XMaterial harmful to minorsY means material that is all of the following:
7070 1. Material that the average person, applying contemporary community
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8686 standards and taking the material as a whole and with respect to minors, would
8787 find to be designed to appeal or pander to prurient interests.
8888 2. Material that exploits, is devoted to, or principally consists of descriptions
8989 of actual, simulated, or animated display or depiction of any of the following, in a
9090 manner patently offensive with respect to minors:
9191 a. Pubic hair, anus, vulva, genitals, or nipple of the female breast.
9292 b. Touching, caressing, or fondling of a nipple, breast, buttock, anus, or
9393 genitals.
9494 c. Sexual intercourse, masturbation, sodomy, bestiality, oral copulation,
9595 flagellation, excretory functions, exhibitions, or any other sexual act.
9696 3. Material that, when taken as a whole, lacks serious literary, artistic,
9797 political, or scientific value for minors.
9898 (d) XMinorY means an individual under 18 years of age.
9999 (e) XNews-gathering organization employeeY means any of the following:
100100 1. An employee of a print, online, or mobile platform newspaper, news
101101 publication, or news source that provides current news and public interest
102102 information, if the employee is acting in his or her capacity as an employee of the
103103 newspaper, news publication, or news source.
104104 2. An employee of a radio broadcast station, television broadcast station, cable
105105 television operator, or wire service, if the employee is acting in his or her capacity as
106106 an employee of the radio broadcast station, television broadcast station, cable
107107 television operator, or wire service.
108108 (f) XObscene depiction of a purported childY means obscene material, as
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136136 defined under s. 948.125 (1) (b), that contains a depiction of a purported child, as
137137 defined under s. 948.125 (1) (a).
138138 (g) XObscene materialY has the meaning given in s. 944.21 (2) (c).
139139 (h) XPublishY means to communicate or make information available to
140140 another person on a publicly available website.
141141 (i) XReasonable age verification methodY means verification by a business
142142 entity using any of the following methods to determine that an individual seeking
143143 access to material harmful to minors is not a minor:
144144 1. A commercial age verification system that verifies age using the
145145 individual[s government-issued identification card or by using any commercially
146146 reasonable method that uses public or private transactional data gathered about
147147 the individual.
148148 2. A government-issued digitized identification card.
149149 (j) XSubstantial portionY means more than one-third of the total material on a
150150 website.
151151 (2) AGE VERIFICATION REQUIRED TO PUBLISH OR DISTRIBUTE MATERIAL
152152 HARMFUL TO MINORS. (a) No business entity may knowingly and intentionally
153153 publish or distribute material harmful to minors on the Internet from a website
154154 that contains a substantial portion of such material, unless the business entity
155155 performs reasonable age verification methods to verify the age of individuals
156156 attempting to access the website.
157157 (b) A person that performs a reasonable age verification method in compliance
158158 with par. (a) may not knowingly retain identifying information of the individual
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186186 attempting to access the website after the individual[s access has been granted or
187187 denied.
188188 (c) A business entity that knowingly and intentionally publishes or
189189 distributes material harmful to minors on the Internet from a website that contains
190190 a substantial portion of such material shall prevent persons from accessing the
191191 website from an internet protocol address or internet protocol address range that is
192192 linked to or known to be a virtual private network system or virtual private network
193193 provider.
194194 (3) PROHIBITION ON THE PUBLISHING OR DISTRIBUTING CERTAIN OBSCENE
195195 MATERIAL. No business entity may knowingly and intentionally publish or
196196 distribute an obscene depiction of a purported child or obscene material on the
197197 Internet.
198198 (4) CIVIL LIABILITY. (a) A person alleging a violation of sub. (2) or (3) may
199199 bring an action seeking actual and punitive damages, court costs, and reasonable
200200 attorney fees notwithstanding s. 814.04 (1). A person bringing an action under this
201201 paragraph is not required to first exhaust any relevant administrative remedies.
202202 (b) Sovereign immunity may not be raised as an affirmative defense in an
203203 action brought under par. (a).
204204 (c) The presence or absence of a criminal conviction related to the same
205205 conduct underlying an alleged violation of sub. (2) or (3) has no bearing on the relief
206206 available to a person under par. (a).
207207 (5) EXEMPTIONS. (a) Subsection (2) does not apply to any bona fide news or
208208 public interest broadcast, video, report, or event, and may not be construed to affect
209209 the rights of any news-gathering organization employee.
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238238 (b) No Internet service provider or its affiliates or subsidiaries, search engine,
239239 or cloud service provider shall be held to have violated sub. (2) on the basis of the
240240 entity having provided access or connection to or from a website, content on the
241241 Internet, or a facility, system, or network not under that entity[s control, or the
242242 entity[s provision of communicating, transmitting, downloading, intermediate
243243 storage of, providing access software for, or other services that communicate
244244 material harmful to minors, if that entity is not responsible for the creation of the
245245 content that constitutes material harmful to minors.
246246 (c) No Internet service provider or its affiliates or subsidiaries, search engine,
247247 or cloud service provider shall be held to have violated sub. (3) on the basis of the
248248 entity having provided access or connection to or from a website, content on the
249249 Internet, or a facility, system, or network not under that entity[s control, or the
250250 entity[s provision of communicating, transmitting, downloading, intermediate
251251 storage of, providing access software for, or other services that communicate an
252252 obscene depiction of a purported child or obscene material, if that entity is not
253253 responsible for the creation of the content that constitutes an obscene depiction of a
254254 purported child or obscene material.
255255 (END)
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