Skip to main content
Find a Lawyer

North Dakota Century Code Title 51. Sales and Exchanges § 51-07-32. Liability for publishing or distributing sexual material harmful to minors--Age verification requirement--Damages

Current as of January 01, 2024 | Updated by Findlaw Staff

1. As used in this section:

a. “Commercial entity” includes a corporation, limited liability company, partnership, limited partnership, sole proprietorship, or other legally recognized business entity.

b. “Distribute” means to issue, sell, give, provide, deliver, transfer, transmute, circulate, or disseminate by any means.

c. “Minor” means an individual under eighteen years of age.

d. “News-gathering organization” means an employee of a:

(1) Newspaper, news publication, or news source, printed or on an online or mobile platform, of current news and public interest, who is acting within the scope of employment and can provide documentation of employment with the newspaper, news publication, or news source; or

(2) Radio broadcast station, television broadcast station, cable television operator, or wire service, who is acting within the scope of employment and can provide documentation of employment with the radio broadcast station, television broadcast station, cable television operator, or wire service.

e. “Publish” means to communicate or make information available to another person on a publicly available internet website.

f. “Reasonable age verification methods” includes verifying the individual seeking to access the material is eighteen years of age or older by using:

(1) A digitized identification card; or

(2) Requiring the individual attempting to access the material to comply with a commercial age verification system including the use of:

(a) Government-issued identification;

(b) A commercially available database regularly used by a business or government entity for the purpose of age and identity verification; or

(c) Any commercially reasonable method that relies on public or private transactional data to verify the age of the individual attempting to access the information is eighteen years of age or older.

g. “Sexual material harmful to a minor” includes material that:

(1) The average individual applying contemporary community standards would find, taking the material as a whole and with respect to a minor, is designed to appeal to or pander to the prurient interest;

(2) In a manner patently offensive with respect to a minor, exploits, is devoted to, or principally consists of descriptions of actual, simulated, or animated displays or depictions of:

(a) An individual's pubic hair, anus, genitals, or the nipple of the female breast;

(b) Touching, caressing, or fondling of nipples, breasts, buttocks, anuses, or genitals; or

(c) Sexual intercourse, masturbation, sodomy, bestiality, oral copulation, flagellation, excretory functions, exhibitions, or any other sexual act; and

(3) Taken as a whole, lacks serious literary, artistic, political, or scientific value for a minor.

h. “Substantial portion” means if more than thirty-three and one-third percent of total material on a website is sexual material harmful to a minor.

i. “Transactional data” means a sequence of information that documents an exchange, agreement, or transfer between an individual, commercial entity, or third party used for the purpose of satisfying a request or event. The term includes records from mortgage, education, and employment entities.

2. A commercial entity that knowingly publishes or distributes sexual material harmful to a minor on the internet from a website that contains a substantial portion of the material must be held liable if the entity fails to perform reasonable age verification methods to verify the age of an individual attempting to access the material.

3. A commercial entity or third party that performs the required age verification may not retain any identifying information of the individual after access has been granted to the material.

4. A commercial entity found to have violated subsection 2 or 3 is liable for damages.

5. A civil action may be brought against any commercial entity, or third party that performs the required age verification on behalf of the commercial entity, by:

a. A parent or guardian whose minor child was allowed access to the material in violation of subsection 2; or

b. An individual whose identifying information is retained in violation of subsection 3.

6. An individual authorized to bring a civil action under subsection 5 may seek and the court may award:

a. An injunction to enjoin continued violation of this section;

b. Compensatory and exemplary damages; and

c. Costs and fees, including reasonable attorney fees.

7. This section does not apply to any bona fide news or public interest broadcast, website video, report, or event, and may not be construed to affect the rights of any news-gathering organization.

8. An internet service provider or its affiliates or subsidiaries, a search engine, a cloud service provider, or an application store, may not be held to have violated this section solely for providing access or connection to or from a website or other information or content on the internet or a facility, system, or network not under the provider's control, including transmission, downloading, intermediate storage, access software, or other forms of access or storage to the extent the provider is not responsible for the creation of the content of the communication that constitutes sexual material harmful to a minor.

Previous Part of Code Next Part of Code
Back to Chapter List

Cite this article: FindLaw.com - North Dakota Century Code Title 51. Sales and Exchanges § 51-07-32. Liability for publishing or distributing sexual material harmful to minors--Age verification requirement--Damages - last updated January 01, 2024 | https://codes.findlaw.com/nd/title-51-sales-and-exchanges/nd-cent-code-sect-51-07-32/

FindLaw Codes may not reflect the most recent version of the law in your jurisdiction. Please verify the status of the code you are researching with the state legislature before relying on it for your legal needs.

Was this helpful?

Welcome to FindLaw's Cases & Codes

A free source of state and federal court opinions, state laws, and the United States Code. For more information about the legal concepts addressed by these cases and statutes, visit FindLaw’s Learn About the Law.

Go to Learn About the Law

Latest Blog Posts

For Legal Professionals

Learn About The Law

Get help with your legal needs

FindLaw’s Learn About the Law features thousands of informational articles to help you understand your options. And if you’re ready to hire an attorney, find one in your area who can help.

Go to Learn About the Law

Need to Find an Attorney?

Search our directory by legal issue

Enter information in one or both fields (Required)

Copied to clipboard