Law / United States / 
West Virginia
HB 4412 (2026), Child Online Protection and Liability Act
W. Va. Code §§ 49A-1-101 to 49A-1-106
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What follows is LexLint's own research summary of this law, not legal advice.
In force 3 months, effective 12 June 2026.
An adult content age verification (AV) rule binding private bodies.
As of 2 September 2026.
What this law does
Drafted with AI from the cited sources under the direction of UnGovr staff. UnGovr holds editorial responsibility for this page.
Requires a commercial entity that knowingly and intentionally publishes or distributes sexual material harmful to minors, where such material is a substantial portion (more than 33.33 percent) of the entity's content, to verify that a user is 18 or older using digital identification or a commercial or governmental age verification system. Exempts news gathering organizations, internet service providers, search engines, and cloud service providers.
If you get it wrong
Criminal exposureNo
Private right of actionYes
Penalties
Private civil action for $10,000 per incident plus attorney fees and actual damages; Attorney General civil penalties of $10,000 per day of violation, $10,000 per instance of improper data retention, and up to $250,000 additional if a minor accesses the material.
Penalty structure
Court-assessed civil penalty of $10,000 per day the entity operates a noncompliant website, plus $10,000 per instance of improper retention of identifying information (Sec. 49A-1-102(b)), plus an additional amount of not more than $250,000 if a minor accessed the material because of the violation. Amount set considering seriousness, prior violations, deterrence, and economic effect.
- Rule
- Per violation only
- As of
- 2 September 2026
- Currency
- USD
- Fixed cap
- 250,000
- Per violation unit
- Day
- Per violation amount
- 10,000
Over one month, USD 250,000, which is the instrument's own cap: the penalty stops accruing on day 25.
Statutory damages
A minor child, parent, guardian, or other authorized person harmed by a violation of the age-verification duty (Sec. 104(a)) or the no-retention duty (Sec. 104(c)) is entitled to $10,000 per incident of violation, plus reasonable attorney fees, court costs, and actual damages for financial, physical, and emotional harm shown to be a direct consequence of the violation.
- As of
- 2 September 2026
- Currency
- USD
- Per person minimum
- 10,000
Who enforces it
Enforcement body
West Virginia Attorney General and private civil action.
What it reaches
Age threshold
18
Covered services
Websites or applications where sexual material harmful to minors is a substantial portion of content.
Obligation class
Age verification, Retention
Verification methods
Gov ID, Digital ID, Transactional data
When LexLint raises it
publishes_adult_content
Read the law
official West Virginia Code text (enacted by 2026 enrolled House Bill 4412)
Every line above is drawn from the primary source linked here, read on the date shown. This is a research summary, not legal advice.