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Law / United States / Virginia

Computer-Generated Child Sexual Abuse Material

Va. Code Ann. §§ 18.2-374.1, 18.2-374.1:1

In force.

An AI prohibited practices rule binding public and private bodies.

Obligation class
Prohibition
Audit expectation
none
Setting the rule reaches
General

What it requires

  • Do not produce, make, finance, or knowingly take part in producing child pornography, including a computer-generated or digitally manipulated depiction built from an identifiable minor's face, likeness, or other distinguishing characteristic; the minor as depicted does not have to actually exist for this to apply.
  • Do not knowingly possess, reproduce, sell, distribute, transmit, display, or solicit such material, or operate a website for the purpose of facilitating payment for access to it.
  • Penalties are graduated by the subject's age and by whether the offender is at least seven years older than the subject, with mandatory minimum prison terms on the higher tiers.

These lines are LexLint's reading of the law's text.

In the frameworks

NIST AI RMF
  • MAP 3.3Targeted application scope is specified and documented based on the system’s capability, established context, and AI system categorization.
NIST AI 600-1
MIT mitigations Draft
  • 1.5Safety Decision Frameworks
  • 3.3Access Management
FINOS AIGF
ETSI EN 304 223
  • 5.1.2-1Business need and security risks written down and assessed before deciding to build an AI system.
  • 5.1.4-5End-users told which uses of the system are prohibited.

Our reading of where this law's duties sit in each framework. It never says that running a control meets the law. How we read a framework against the law

Identifiers refer to ETSI EN 304 223 V2.1.1 (2025-12), © ETSI 2025, all rights reserved. ETSI owns the standard; no ETSI text (titles or sentences) is reproduced here. The standard is free to download from ETSI.

If you get it wrong

Criminal exposureYes

Criminal exposure note

Production (§ 18.2-374.1): where the subject is under 15, 5 to 30 years, with a 5-year mandatory minimum if the offender is at least 7 years older, rising to 15 to 40 years with a 15-year mandatory minimum on a second or subsequent such offense; where the subject is 15 to under 18, 1 to 20 years, with a 3-year mandatory minimum if the offender is at least 7 years older, rising to 10 to 30 years with a 10-year mandatory minimum on a second or subsequent such offense. Possession (§ 18.2-374.1:1(A)-(B)): Class 6 felony, Class 5 felony for a second or subsequent violation. Reproduction, distribution, sale, or soliciting entry into a trading group (§ 18.2-374.1:1(C)): 5 to 20 years, with a 5-year mandatory minimum on a second or subsequent violation. Operating a website to facilitate payment for access (§ 18.2-374.1:1(D)): Class 4 felony.

What it makes you log

Logging duty

Sections 18.2-374.1 and 18.2-374.1:1 criminalize producing, financing, possessing, and distributing child pornography, including a computer-generated or AI-manipulated depiction built from an identifiable real minor's likeness. They state no duty for anyone to create, keep, or produce a record; they are prohibitions enforced through ordinary criminal investigation and prosecution.

Kind
None
As of

What this law does

Drafted with AI

Drafted with AI from the cited sources under the direction of UnGovr staff. UnGovr holds editorial responsibility for this page. How this site is made

Research summary

Legal information, not legal advice. This is LexLint's own research summary of a public legal source, and it creates no attorney-client relationship. For decisions that matter, consult qualified counsel in the relevant jurisdiction. About LexLint

Virginia's child pornography statute defines an identifiable minor to include a person whose image as a minor was used in creating, adapting, or modifying a visual depiction, recognizable by face, likeness, or other distinguishing characteristic, and its own text states that for this purpose the minor depicted does not have to actually exist, reaching a computer-generated or AI-manipulated depiction built from an identifiable real minor's likeness on the same terms as an unaltered photograph.

Section 18.2-374.1 punishes producing, financing, or knowingly taking part in producing such material, with penalties graduated by the subject's age and the offender's age relative to the subject; section 18.2-374.1:1 separately punishes knowing possession, and reproduction, sale, distribution, or solicitation to gain entry into a trading group. The provisions this entry describes came into force on different days.

When LexLint raises it

When your app profile says your app generates images with AI, generates video with AI or publishes adult content.

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