II 

118TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 412 

To provide that it is unlawful to knowingly distribute private intimate visual 

depictions with reckless disregard for the individual’s lack of consent 

to the distribution, and for other purposes. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

FEBRUARY 14, 2023 

Ms. KLOBUCHAR (for herself and Mr. CORNYN) introduced the following bill; 

which was read twice and referred to the Committee on the Judiciary 

A BILL 

To provide that it is unlawful to knowingly distribute private 

intimate visual depictions with reckless disregard for the 

individual’s lack of consent to the distribution, and for 

other purposes. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Stopping Harmful 

5 Image Exploitation and Limiting Distribution Act of 

6 2023’’ or the ‘‘SHIELD Act of 2023’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. CERTAIN ACTIVITIES RELATING TO INTIMATE VIS2 UAL DEPICTIONS. 

3 (a) IN GENERAL.—Chapter 88 of title 18, United 

4 States Code, is amended by adding at the end the fol5 lowing: 

6 ‘‘§ 1802. Certain activities relating to intimate visual 

7 depictions 

8 ‘‘(a) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 

9 ‘‘(1) COMMUNICATIONS SERVICE.—The term 

10 ‘communications service’ means— 

11 ‘‘(A) a service provided by a person that is 

12 a common carrier, as that term is defined in 

13 section 3 of the Communications Act of 1934 

14 (47 U.S.C. 153), insofar as the person is acting 

15 as a common carrier; 

16 ‘‘(B) an electronic communication service, 

17 as that term is defined in section 2510; 

18 ‘‘(C) an information service, as that term 

19 is defined in section 3 of the Communications 

20 Act of 1934 (47 U.S.C. 153); and 

21 ‘‘(D) an interactive computer service, as 

22 that term is defined in section 230(f) of the 

23 Communications Act of 1934 (47 U.S.C. 

24 230(f)). 

25 ‘‘(2) INFORMATION CONTENT PROVIDER.—The 

26 term ‘information content provider’ has the meaning 


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1 given that term in section 230(f) of the Communica2 tions Act of 1934 (47 U.S.C. 230(f)). 

3 ‘‘(3) INTIMATE VISUAL DEPICTION.—The term 

4 ‘intimate visual depiction’ means any visual depic5 tion (as that term is defined in section 2256(5)) of 

6 an individual who is recognizable by an individual 

7 other than the depicted individual from the intimate 

8 image itself or information or text displayed in con9 nection with the intimate image itself or information 

10 or text displayed in connection with the intimate 

11 image who has attained 18 years of age at the time 

12 the intimate visual depiction is created and— 

13 ‘‘(A) who is depicted engaging in sexually 

14 explicit conduct; or 

15 ‘‘(B) whose genitals, anus, pubic area, or 

16 female nipple are unclothed and visible. 

17 ‘‘(4) VISUAL DEPICTION OF A NUDE MINOR.— 

18 The term ‘visual depiction of a nude minor’ means 

19 any visual depiction (as that term is defined in sec20 tion 2256(5)) of an individual who is recognizable by 

21 an individual other than the depicted individual from 

22 the intimate image itself or information or text dis23 played in connection with the intimate image who 

24 was under 18 years of age at the time the visual de25 piction was created in which the actual anus, geniVerDate Sep 11 2014 05:37 Mar 01, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S412.IS S412

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1 tals, or pubic area, or post-pubescent female nipple, 

2 of the minor are unclothed, visible, and displayed in 

3 a manner that does not constitute sexually explicit 

4 conduct. 

5 ‘‘(5) SEXUALLY EXPLICIT CONDUCT.—The term 

6 ‘sexually explicit conduct’ has the meaning given 

7 that term in section 2256(2)(A). 

8 ‘‘(b) OFFENSE.— 

9 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—Except as provided in sub10 section (d), it shall be unlawful to knowingly mail, 

11 or to distribute using any means or facility of inter12 state or foreign commerce or affecting interstate or 

13 foreign commerce, an intimate visual depiction of an 

14 individual— 

15 ‘‘(A) with knowledge of or reckless dis16 regard for the lack of consent of the individual 

17 to the distribution; 

18 ‘‘(B) where what is depicted was not volun19 tarily exposed by the individual in a public or 

20 commercial setting; and 

21 ‘‘(C) where what is depicted is not a mat22 ter of public concern. 

23 For purposes of this paragraph, the fact that the 

24 subject of the depiction consented to the creation of 


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1 the depiction shall not establish that that person 

2 consented to its distribution. 

3 ‘‘(2) MINORS.—Except as provided in sub4 section (d), it shall be unlawful to knowingly mail, 

5 or to distribute using any means or facility of inter6 state or foreign commerce or affecting interstate or 

7 foreign commerce, a visual depiction of a nude minor 

8 with intent to abuse, humiliate, harass, or degrade 

9 the minor, or to arouse or gratify the sexual desire 

10 of any person. 

11 ‘‘(c) PENALTY.— 

12 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—Any person who violates 

13 subsection (b), or attempts or conspires to do so, 

14 shall be fined under this title, imprisoned not more 

15 than 5 years, or both. 

16 ‘‘(2) FORFEITURE.— 

17 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—The court, in impos18 ing a sentence on any person convicted of a vio19 lation involving intimate visual depictions or 

20 visual depictions of a nude minor under this 

21 section, or convicted of a conspiracy of a viola22 tion involving intimate visual depictions or vis23 ual depictions of a nude minor under this sec24 tion, shall order, in addition to any other sen25 tence imposed and irrespective of any provision 


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1 of State law, that such person forfeit to the 

2 United States— 

3 ‘‘(i) any material distributed in viola4 tion of this section; 

5 ‘‘(ii) such person’s interest in prop6 erty, real or personal, constituting or de7 rived from any gross proceeds of such vio8 lation, or any property traceable to such 

9 property, obtained or retained directly or 

10 indirectly as a result of such violation; and 

11 ‘‘(iii) any property, real or personal, 

12 used or intended to be used to commit or 

13 to facilitate the commission of such of14 fense. 

15 ‘‘(B) PROCEDURES.—Section 413 of the 

16 Controlled Substances Act (21 U.S.C. 853), 

17 with the exception of subsections (a) and (d), 

18 applies to the criminal forfeiture of property 

19 pursuant to subparagraph (A). 

20 ‘‘(3) RESTITUTION.—Restitution shall be avail21 able as provided in section 2264 of title 18, United 

22 States Code. 

23 ‘‘(d) EXCEPTIONS.— 

24 ‘‘(1) LAW ENFORCEMENT, LAWFUL REPORTING, 

25 AND OTHER LEGAL PROCEEDINGS.—This section— 


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1 ‘‘(A) does not prohibit any lawfully author2 ized investigative, protective, or intelligence ac3 tivity of a law enforcement agency of the 

4 United States, a State, or a political subdivision 

5 of a State, or of an intelligence agency of the 

6 United States; 

7 ‘‘(B) shall not apply in the case of an indi8 vidual acting in good faith to report unlawful 

9 activity or in pursuance of a legal or profes10 sional or other lawful obligation; and 

11 ‘‘(C) shall not apply in the case of a docu12 ment production or filing associated with a legal 

13 proceeding. 

14 ‘‘(2) SERVICE PROVIDERS.—This section shall 

15 not apply to any provider of a communications serv16 ice with regard to content provided by another infor17 mation content provider unless the provider of the 

18 communications service intentionally solicits, or 

19 knowingly and predominantly distributes, such con20 tent. 

21 ‘‘(e) THREATS.—Any person who threatens to com22 mit an offense under subsection (b) shall be punished as 

23 provided in subsection (c). 

24 ‘‘(f) EXTRATERRITORIALITY.—There is 

25 extraterritorial Federal jurisdiction over an offense under 


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1 this section if the defendant or the depicted individual is 

2 a citizen or permanent resident of the United States. 

3 ‘‘(g) CIVIL FORFEITURE.—The following shall be 

4 subject to forfeiture to the United States in accordance 

5 with provisions of chapter 46 and no property right shall 

6 exist in them: 

7 ‘‘(1) Any material distributed in violation of 

8 this chapter. 

9 ‘‘(2) Any property, real or personal, that was 

10 used, in any manner, to commit or to facilitate the 

11 commission of a violation involving intimate visual 

12 depictions or visual depictions of a nude minor 

13 under this section or a conspiracy of a violation in14 volving intimate visual depictions or visual depictions 

15 of a nude minor under this section. 

16 ‘‘(3) Any property, real or personal, consti17 tuting, or traceable to the gross proceeds obtained or 

18 retained in connection with or as a result of a viola19 tion involving intimate visual depictions or visual de20 pictions of a nude minor under this section, a con21 spiracy of a violation involving intimate visual depic22 tions or visual depictions of a nude minor under this 

23 section. 


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1 ‘‘(h) RULE OF CONSTRUCTION.—Nothing in this sec2 tion shall be construed to limit the application of any other 

3 relevant law, including section 2252 of this title.’’. 

4 (b) CLERICAL AMENDMENT.—The table of sections 

5 for chapter 88 of title 18, United States Code, is amended 

6 by inserting after the item relating to section 1801 the 

7 following: 

‘‘1802. Certain activities relating to intimate visual depictions.’’. 

Æ 


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