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2025 SENATE BILL 130
March 14, 2025 - Introduced by Senators WANGGAARD, FEYEN, JACQUE and NASS,
cosponsored by Representatives GOEBEN, B. JACOBSON, PENTERMAN,
KREIBICH, DITTRICH, ALLEN, KNODL, WICHGERS, MURPHY, BRILL, MURSAU
and BEHNKE. Referred to Committee on Mental Health, Substance Abuse
Prevention, Children and Families.
***AUTHORS SUBJECT TO CHANGE***
AN ACT to create 100.76 of the statutes; relating to: the distribution of
certain material on the Internet.
Analysis by the Legislative Reference Bureau
This bill prohibits business entities from knowingly and intentionally
publishing or distributing material harmful to minors on the Internet on a website
that contains a substantial portion of such material, unless the business entity
performs a reasonable age verification method to verify the age of individuals
attempting to access the website. XMaterial harmful to minorsY is defined in the
bill to include material 1) that is designed to appeal to prurient interests, 2) that
principally consists of descriptions or depictions of actual or simulated sexual acts
or body parts including pubic areas, genitals, buttocks, and female nipples, and 3)
that lacks serious literary, artistic, political, or scientific value for minors. In the
bill, a Xreasonable age verification methodY includes various methods whereby the
business entity may verify that an individual seeking to access the material is not a
minor. Under the bill, persons that perform reasonable age verification methods
may not knowingly retain identifying information of the individual attempting to
access the website after the individual[s access has been granted or denied. The bill
also requires a business 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 to prevent persons from accessing the
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website from an internet protocol address or internet protocol address range that is
linked to or known to be a virtual private network system or provider.
In addition, this bill prohibits business entities from knowingly and
intentionally publishing or distributing obscene material or an obscene depiction of
a purported child on the Internet. XObscene materialY is defined to mean a writing,
picture, film, or other recording that the average person, applying contemporary
community standards, would find appeals to the prurient interest if taken as a
whole, describes or shows sexual conduct in a patently offensive way, and lacks
serious literary, artistic, political, educational, or scientific value if taken as a
whole. XObscene depiction of a purported childY is defined to mean a visual
representation that appears to depict an actual child in the form of a photograph,
film, motion picture, or digital or computer-generated image or picture, that the
average person, applying contemporary community standards, would find appeals
to prurient interests if taken as a whole, describes or shows sexually explicit
conduct in a patently offensive way, and lacks serious literary, artistic, political,
educational, or scientific value if taken as a whole.
A person that violates the provisions of the bill may be subject to civil liability
for damages and the payment of court costs and reasonable attorney fees.
Sovereign immunity may not be raised as an affirmative defense to a civil action
brought alleging a violation of a provision of the bill.
The people of the state of Wisconsin, represented in senate and assembly, do
enact as follows:
SECTION 1. 100.76 of the statutes is created to read:
100.76 Publishing and distributing certain materials to minors. (1)
DEFINITIONS. In this section:
(a) XBusiness entityY means a proprietorship, partnership, firm, business
trust, joint venture, syndicate, corporation, limited liability company, or business
association, including all wholly owned subsidiaries, majority-owned subsidiaries,
parent companies, or affiliates of such an organization or entity.
(b) XDistributeY means to issue, sell, give, provide, deliver, transfer,
transmute, circulate, or disseminate by any means.
(c) XMaterial harmful to minorsY means material that is all of the following:
1. Material that the average person, applying contemporary community
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standards and taking the material as a whole and with respect to minors, would
find to be designed to appeal or pander to prurient interests.
2. 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:
a. Pubic hair, anus, vulva, genitals, or nipple of the female breast.
b. Touching, caressing, or fondling of a nipple, breast, buttock, anus, or
genitals.
c. Sexual intercourse, masturbation, sodomy, bestiality, oral copulation,
flagellation, excretory functions, exhibitions, or any other sexual act.
3. Material that, when taken as a whole, lacks serious literary, artistic,
political, or scientific value for minors.
(d) XMinorY means an individual under 18 years of age.
(e) XNews-gathering organization employeeY means any of the following:
1. An employee of a print, online, or mobile platform newspaper, news
publication, or news source that provides current news and public interest
information, if the employee is acting in his or her capacity as an employee of the
newspaper, news publication, or news source.
2. An employee of a radio broadcast station, television broadcast station, cable
television operator, or wire service, if the employee is acting in his or her capacity as
an employee of the radio broadcast station, television broadcast station, cable
television operator, or wire service.
(f) XObscene depiction of a purported childY means obscene material, as
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defined under s. 948.125 (1) (b), that contains a depiction of a purported child, as
defined under s. 948.125 (1) (a).
(g) XObscene materialY has the meaning given in s. 944.21 (2) (c).
(h) XPublishY means to communicate or make information available to
another person on a publicly available website.
(i) XReasonable age verification methodY means verification by a business
entity using any of the following methods to determine that an individual seeking
access to material harmful to minors is not a minor:
1. A commercial age verification system that verifies age using the
individual[s government-issued identification card or by using any commercially
reasonable method that uses public or private transactional data gathered about
the individual.
2. A government-issued digitized identification card.
(j) XSubstantial portionY means more than one-third of the total material on a
website.
(2) AGE VERIFICATION REQUIRED TO PUBLISH OR DISTRIBUTE MATERIAL
HARMFUL TO MINORS. (a) No business entity may knowingly and intentionally
publish or distribute material harmful to minors on the Internet from a website
that contains a substantial portion of such material, unless the business entity
performs reasonable age verification methods to verify the age of individuals
attempting to access the website.
(b) A person that performs a reasonable age verification method in compliance
with par. (a) may not knowingly retain identifying information of the individual
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attempting to access the website after the individual[s access has been granted or
denied.
(c) A business 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 shall prevent persons from accessing the
website from an internet protocol address or internet protocol address range that is
linked to or known to be a virtual private network system or virtual private network
provider.
(3) PROHIBITION ON THE PUBLISHING OR DISTRIBUTING CERTAIN OBSCENE
MATERIAL. No business entity may knowingly and intentionally publish or
distribute an obscene depiction of a purported child or obscene material on the
Internet.
(4) CIVIL LIABILITY. (a) A person alleging a violation of sub. (2) or (3) may
bring an action seeking actual and punitive damages, court costs, and reasonable
attorney fees notwithstanding s. 814.04 (1). A person bringing an action under this
paragraph is not required to first exhaust any relevant administrative remedies.
(b) Sovereign immunity may not be raised as an affirmative defense in an
action brought under par. (a).
(c) The presence or absence of a criminal conviction related to the same
conduct underlying an alleged violation of sub. (2) or (3) has no bearing on the relief
available to a person under par. (a).
(5) EXEMPTIONS. (a) Subsection (2) does not apply to any bona fide news or
public interest broadcast, video, report, or event, and may not be construed to affect
the rights of any news-gathering organization employee.
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(b) No Internet service provider or its affiliates or subsidiaries, search engine,
or cloud service provider shall be held to have violated sub. (2) on the basis of the
entity having provided access or connection to or from a website, content on the
Internet, or a facility, system, or network not under that entity[s control, or the
entity[s provision of communicating, transmitting, downloading, intermediate
storage of, providing access software for, or other services that communicate
material harmful to minors, if that entity is not responsible for the creation of the
content that constitutes material harmful to minors.
(c) No Internet service provider or its affiliates or subsidiaries, search engine,
or cloud service provider shall be held to have violated sub. (3) on the basis of the
entity having provided access or connection to or from a website, content on the
Internet, or a facility, system, or network not under that entity[s control, or the
entity[s provision of communicating, transmitting, downloading, intermediate
storage of, providing access software for, or other services that communicate an
obscene depiction of a purported child or obscene material, if that entity is not
responsible for the creation of the content that constitutes an obscene depiction of a
purported child or obscene material.
(END)
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