North Dakota House Bill HB1561

North Dakota 2025-2026 Regular Session

• Introduced: 1/20/25
• Refer: 1/20/25
• Report Pass: 2/6/25
• Engrossed: 2/10/25
• Refer: 2/13/25
• Report Pass: 3/26/25
• Enrolled: 4/3/25
• Passed: 4/11/25

Caption

AN ACT to create and enact a new section to chapter 51-07 of the North Dakota Century Code, relating to a commercial entity's liability for publishing or distributing sexual material harmful to a minor; to provide a penalty; and to provide for application.

Summary

HB 1561 creates a new section of North Dakota Century Code chapter 51-07 imposing civil liability on commercial entities that knowingly publish or distribute online sexual material harmful to minors without first using reasonable age-verification methods. The bill defines key terms such as “commercial entity,” “publish,” “distribute,” “minor,” “reasonable age verification methods,” and “sexual material harmful to a minor,” and it sets a threshold that the website must contain a “substantial portion” of such material (more than one-third of total content) before the verification requirement applies. The bill also prohibits the retention of identifying information after age verification is completed, and it authorizes civil actions by a parent or guardian whose minor child accessed the material, or by an individual whose identifying information was improperly retained. Available remedies include injunctions, compensatory and exemplary damages, and attorney fees and costs. The measure expressly excludes bona fide news and public-interest broadcasts or websites and states that news-gathering organizations are not to be affected. It also provides that internet service providers, search engines, app stores, and cloud providers are not liable solely for providing access or infrastructure to content they did not create.

Impact

HB 1561 expands state civil liability for certain online publishers and distributors by requiring age verification for websites with a substantial amount of sexual content deemed harmful to minors. It creates new compliance obligations for covered commercial entities, limits data retention after verification, and establishes a private right of action with damages and fee-shifting. The bill also clarifies that intermediaries such as ISPs, search engines, app stores, and cloud providers are not liable merely for transmitting or hosting access to third-party content, and it preserves protections for news and public-interest media.

Sentiment

The bill appears to have broad bipartisan support, passing the House 91-0 and the Senate 46-0. The unanimous votes suggest general agreement on the goal of restricting minors’ access to harmful sexual material online and on the bill’s carve-outs for news organizations and internet intermediaries. No committee transcript was provided, so there is no recorded floor or committee debate in the supplied materials.

Contention

No formal opposition is reflected in the voting record, but the bill’s structure suggests likely areas of concern in similar legislation: the scope of “sexual material harmful to a minor,” the definition of a website containing a “substantial portion” of such material, and the privacy implications of age-verification systems. Potentially affected parties include commercial websites that host adult content, age-verification vendors, and users whose identifying information may be collected during verification. The bill attempts to address some of these concerns by limiting data retention and exempting news and infrastructure providers.