Minnesota Enacts First U.S. Law Banning Nudification Apps
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Minnesota has passed the nation's first law specifically banning nudification apps, tools that digitally create nonconsensual intimate imagery. The law, House File 1606, allows survivors to sue app owners for damages and empowers the state attorney general to levy fines up to $500,000 per violation. This follows a two-year advocacy effort led by survivor Molly Kelley after existing statutes failed to address the creation of deepfake images stored only on a perpetrator's device.
Facts First
- Minnesota's House File 1606 is the first state law to ban nudification apps.
- The law creates a civil right of action for survivors to sue app owners for damages.
- State enforcement allows fines up to $500,000 per violation through the attorney general's office.
- The bill passed after a two-year advocacy campaign by survivor Molly Kelley.
- Existing laws did not apply as images were not shared and victims were not minors.
What Happened
Minnesota Governor Tim Walz signed House File 1606 into law, which targets the function of nudification technology that digitally transforms photos of clothed people to appear nude. The state Senate passed the bill with a 65-0 vote. The law was championed by Molly Kelley, who discovered a family friend had used such a website to create nonconsensual deepfake images of her and approximately 80 other women in Minnesota. At the time, no law allowed Kelley to seek restitution because the images were stored only on the perpetrator's computer, meaning dissemination and revenge porn statutes did not apply, and possessing the images was not a crime as the women were not minors. Kelley spent nearly two years educating lawmakers and testifying while working, raising children, and completing law school.
Why this Matters to You
This law may provide a new legal pathway for you if you are targeted by AI-generated nonconsensual imagery, allowing you to sue the companies that create the tools. It shifts liability towards app owners rather than solely individual users. The law includes an exemption for general editing tools like Photoshop, where creating such imagery requires significant technical expertise. A CDC survey from 2023 to 2024 found that one in 10 women experienced tech-facilitated sexual abuse in the prior year, suggesting this issue could affect many people. The independent media organization Indicator has tracked 23 cases of deepfake abuse targeting school communities across the U.S. since 2023, and RAINN reported an increase in children calling about digital violence over the past five years.
What's Next
Survivors in Minnesota can now pursue civil action under the new law. The state attorney general is empowered to enforce it and collect fines. At the federal level, the DEFIANCE Act, which would create a similar civil right of action for survivors of nonconsensual deepfakes, has passed the Senate twice but has not reached a House floor vote. The Trump administration has indicated support for federal preemption of state AI laws, which could potentially void Minnesota's bill if formalized. The broader issue appears to be growing; reporting indicates that in December, X's integrated chatbot Grok generated and posted over 1.8 million sexualized images of women in nine days after enabling free image generation.