ASSEMBLY PUBLIC SAFETY AND PREPAREDNESS COMMITTEE

STATEMENT TO

ASSEMBLY, No. 4479

with committee amendments

STATE OF NEW JERSEY

DATED:  JUNE 19, 2025

      The Assembly Public Safety and Preparedness Committee reports favorably and with committee amendments Assembly Bill No. 4479.

      As amended and reported by the committee, this bill requires social media companies to cooperate with nonprofit organization initiatives to remove nonconsensual intimate images or videos, including any intimate image or video of deceptive audio or visual media, from the social media company’s social media platform.

      Under the bill, intimate images or videos are defined to include images or videos that depict intimate body parts, sexual penetration, or sexual contact in any manner in which such objects or acts are not completely and opaquely covered.  An intimate image or video would be considered nonconsensual when the individual in the image or video did not give express consent for the image or video to be taken, recorded, or disclosed.  Additionally, if an intimate image or video depicts a minor, the intimate image or video would be considered nonconsensual whenever the image or video is disclosed.  In the event the image is a work of deceptive audio or visual media, it is considered nonconsensual when an individual who is depicted in the media did not give express consent for the image or video to be created or disclosed.  If the individual depicted in the intimate image or video of deceptive audio or visual media is depicted as a minor or is a minor when the image or video was created or disclosed, the deceptive audio or visual media is considered nonconsensual whenever the image or video is disclosed.

      Specifically, the bill requires each social media company to establish and implement procedures to assist nonprofit organizations in monitoring, flagging, and removing nonconsensual intimate images that are disclosed on a social media platform.  Upon receiving a request to remove any nonconsensual intimate images or videos, the bill requires a social media company to immediately remove the flagged material from the social media platform until a thorough review has been completed and the social media company has determined that the intimate images or videos were consensual.

      The bill imposes a civil penalty of $10,000 for a first offense, and $20,000 for a second and each subsequent offense, in addition to any other penalty imposed by law.

COMMITTEE AMENDMENTS:

      The committee amended the bill to exclude from the definition of social media platform a service or application that consists primarily of news, sports, entertainment, e-commerce, or other content that is not user-generated but is preselected by the provider and for which any chat, comments, or interactive functionality is incidental to, directly related to, or dependent on the provision of the content.