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.
SB 2380 creates a new section of North Dakota law imposing civil liability on commercial entities that knowingly publish or distribute sexual material harmful to minors on the internet without using reasonable age-verification methods. The bill defines covered terms such as “commercial entity,” “publish,” “distribute,” “minor,” “reasonable age verification methods,” and “sexual material harmful to a minor,” and it applies only when the website contains a “substantial portion” of such material. The age-verification methods may include digitized identification, government-issued ID, commercially available databases, or other commercially reasonable methods using transactional data.
The bill also prohibits the commercial entity or verification vendor from retaining identifying information after access is granted, and it authorizes civil actions by a parent or guardian whose 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 bill expressly excludes bona fide news or public-interest broadcasts, websites, reports, and events, and it limits liability for internet service providers, search engines, cloud providers, and app stores that merely provide access or infrastructure without creating the content.
SB 2380 adds a new civil-liability framework to chapter 51-07 of the North Dakota Century Code focused on online access to sexually explicit material deemed harmful to minors. It effectively requires covered websites to implement age-gating or age-verification systems before allowing access to qualifying content, while also imposing data-retention limits on entities that conduct verification. The bill creates potential exposure to damages and injunctions for noncompliance and provides a private right of action for parents/guardians and affected individuals, while preserving protections for news organizations and intermediaries such as ISPs, search engines, cloud services, and app stores.
The bill appears to have broad legislative support and little recorded opposition. It passed the Senate on second reading 46-1 and later 47-0, and it passed the House 90-0 with four absent, indicating strong bipartisan agreement on the policy goal of restricting minors’ access to harmful sexual content online. The voting record suggests the measure was viewed favorably overall, with no committee transcript available to show extended debate or dissent.
The main policy tension in SB 2380 is between child-protection goals and concerns about privacy, speech, and implementation burdens. Supporters likely favor the age-verification requirement as a way to prevent minors from accessing explicit online material, while the bill’s detailed definitions and exemptions suggest an effort to narrow the scope and avoid sweeping in news media or internet infrastructure providers. Potential points of contention include whether the “substantial portion” threshold is workable, whether age-verification systems could chill lawful adult access or create privacy risks, and whether the liability scheme could be difficult for websites to administer consistently.