CA AB 1394 / AB 1946
Child Sexual Abuse Material Hosted on a Social Media Platform (Civil Code Title 22; AB 1394, Chapter 579, Statutes of 2023, as amended by AB 1946, Chapter 185, Statutes of 2026)
California statute requiring social media platforms to provide a mechanism for California users to report child sexual abuse material, to block reported material and notify the reporting user within fixed timeframes, and prohibiting platforms from knowingly facilitating, aiding or abetting the commercial sexual exploitation of minors. AB 1946, effective January 1, 2027, widens the definition of child sexual abuse material to intimate visual depictions of identifiable minors including digital forgeries created with artificial intelligence, opens reporting to any user rather than only the depicted minor, requires review by a natural person where no known hash match exists, shortens the response clock to 48 hours for blocking and 7 days for a final determination, and adds civil penalties recoverable by public prosecutors.
Jurisdiction
California
Enacted
Oct 8, 2023
Effective
Jan 1, 2025
Enforcement
Attorney General, district attorneys, city attorneys and county counsel (civil penalties and injunctive relief from January 1, 2027); depicted individuals, or a parent, guardian or authorised representative on their behalf (civil actions for damages); before January 1, 2027, the reporting user
AB 1394 was approved by the Governor and filed with the Secretary of State on October 8, 2023 (Chapter 579, Statutes of 2023), adding Title 22 (commencing with Section 3273.65) to Part 4 of Division 3 of the Civil Code and amending Section 3345.1, with duties operative from January 1, 2025. AB 1946 was approved by the Governor and chaptered on September 10, 2026 (Chapter 185, Statutes of 2026; Senate 39 ayes on August 26, 2026, Assembly concurrence 78-0 the same day), amending Sections 3273.65, 3273.66, 3273.67 and 3345.1. AB 1946 carries no urgency clause and takes effect January 1, 2027; until then the 2023 text applies.
California Legislative Information: AB 1394 chaptered text (Chapter 579, Statutes of 2023); amending text at bill_id=202520260AB1946 (Chapter 185, Statutes of 2026)Why It Matters
One of the few state statutes imposing fixed take-down clocks for child sexual abuse material on social media platforms, with statutory damages available to the person depicted. The 2026 amendments make AI-generated sexual imagery of identifiable minors reportable under the same mechanism and add public civil penalties measured per day of noncompliance, and the companion provision in Section 3345.1 conditions a platform's defence to exploitation-facilitation claims on twice-yearly audits of its designs and algorithms.
Recent Developments
AB 1946 (Wicks) was signed on September 10, 2026 as Chapter 185, Statutes of 2026, one of thirteen child online safety bills signed on September 9 and 10, 2026, and takes effect January 1, 2027. It replaces the obscenity-based definition of child sexual abuse material with an intimate-visual-depiction definition that expressly covers AI-generated digital forgeries of identifiable minors, drops the requirement that the reporting user be the person depicted, adds mandatory human review, compresses the response timetable from 30 days to 7, converts the remedy from reporting-user damages to depicted-individual damages plus public civil penalties of up to $250,000 per day, and directs Attorney General penalties to the Survivor Support Fund.
At a Glance
Applies to
Harms addressed
Who Must Comply
- Social media platforms and social media companies as defined in Business and Professions Code Section 22675, excluding stand-alone end-to-end encrypted messaging services (and the encrypted portion of multiservice platforms) and services owned or operated by 501(c)(3) nonprofits
Obligations fall on:
Safety Provisions
- Clear and conspicuous, dark-pattern-free mechanism for California residents to report child sexual abuse material displayed, stored or hosted on the platform, including material sent through non-encrypted direct messaging (Section 3273.66(a), as amended)
- Child sexual abuse material defined to include an intimate visual depiction of an identifiable individual who is a minor, including a digital forgery created through software, machine learning or artificial intelligence that a reasonable person could not distinguish from an authentic depiction (Section 3273.65, as amended)
- Review by a natural person where the reported material has no established or known hash match and is not otherwise blocked (Section 3273.66(b)(2), as amended)
- Permanent blocking within 48 hours of a report where there is a reasonable basis to believe the material is child sexual abuse material, plus reasonable efforts to remove other instances (Section 3273.66(d), as amended; the 2023 text set no fixed blocking deadline)
- Written confirmation within 72 hours stating whether hash matching and human review have occurred, and a final written determination within 7 days, extendable to 10 days for circumstances beyond the platform's control (Section 3273.66(e) to (h), as amended; the 2023 text required confirmation within 36 hours, weekly updates and determination within 30 days)
- Duty to restore an unavailable or nonfunctional reporting mechanism (Section 3273.66(i), as amended)
- Prohibition on knowingly facilitating, aiding or abetting commercial sexual exploitation, meaning deploying a system, design, feature or affordance that is a substantial factor in causing minor users to be victims; knowledge is deemed once material is reported through the mechanism (Section 3345.1(g))
- Safe harbour for platforms that audit their designs, algorithms and features at least twice a year for exploitation risk, mitigate within 30 days, give each board member a copy of each audit, and submit audits to the Attorney General (Section 3345.1(g)(3))
- Waivers of the title are void as contrary to public policy
Exemptions
End-to-end encrypted messaging
Stand-alone direct messaging services providing end-to-end encrypted communication, and the portion of a multiservice platform that uses end-to-end encryption, are excluded from the definition of social media platform (Section 3273.65(q)(2)(A))
- • End-to-end encrypted communication
501(c)(3) nonprofit services
Services owned or operated by an organisation exempt from federal income tax under Section 501(c)(3) are excluded (Section 3273.65(p)(2) and (q)(2)(B))
- • 501(c)(3) tax-exempt status
Compliance & Enforcement
Key Dates
Jan 1, 2025
Title 22 reporting, blocking and notification duties and the Section 3345.1(g) prohibition on knowingly facilitating, aiding or abetting commercial sexual exploitation become operative (AB 1394)
Jan 1, 2027
AB 1946 amendments take effect: clear and conspicuous reporting mechanism open to any California user, human review of reports without a known hash match, 48-hour blocking, 72-hour written confirmation, 7-day final determination, public civil penalties, and statutory damages payable to the depicted individual
Penalties
$4M; $250K/violation; $250K/day
Private Right of Action
Individuals can sue directly without waiting for regulatory action.
View on map
California
Focus Areas
Cite This
APA
California. (2023). Child Sexual Abuse Material Hosted on a Social Media Platform (Civil Code Title 22; AB 1394, Chapter 579, Statutes of 2023, as amended by AB 1946, Chapter 185, Statutes of 2026).
Related Regulations
CA SB 1276
Amends California's sexual-exploitation-of-a-child offence (Penal Code Section 311.3) so that it covers digitally altered or artificial-intelligence-generated matter depicting a person under 18 engaged in sexual conduct, and adds knowingly downloading, streaming or accessing such matter through electronic or digital media to the prohibited conduct. It makes the same extension to the definition of sexual exploitation that triggers mandated reporting under the Child Abuse and Neglect Reporting Act (Section 11165.1).
CA SB 867
Prohibits manufacturing, selling, exchanging, possessing with intent to sell, or offering for sale or exchange to a retailer any toy that includes a companion chatbot, where a toy is a physical product designed, marketed or manufactured for use in play by children under 16 years of age. Adds Business and Professions Code section 22604.5, which is repealed on January 1, 2031.
Singapore OSRA
Creates a dedicated Online Safety Commission (OSC) with powers to order takedowns and disable access, establishes statutory torts providing victims of online harms with direct civil remedies against platforms and perpetrators.
TAKE IT DOWN Act
First federal law addressing AI-generated intimate imagery. Criminalizes publication of nonconsensual intimate imagery (NCII) including AI "digital forgeries." Creates 48-hour takedown obligation for platforms.
NY S 7676-B
Protects performers from exploitative digital replica contracts. Contracts for AI-generated digital replicas are void unless they describe use, performer has legal counsel or union representation, and contract doesn't replace work performer would have done.
AR HB 1071
Amends Arkansas publicity rights law to explicitly include AI-generated reproductions of voice and likeness. Covers simulated voices and 3D generation.
Last updated September 20, 2026. Verify against primary sources before relying on this information.