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Read. Follow. Verify.Maryland Senate Bill 989 establishes civil liability for online platforms hosting unlawful child exploitation material and broadens criminal statutes
Last action · February 18, 2026: First Reading Senate RulesSponsor: Shaneka Henson
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What This Bill Would Do
Online platforms in Maryland can be sued for damages by parents or legal guardians if they knowingly and intentionally distribute, create, or host unlawful child exploitation material or devices. The measure also expands criminal definitions to explicitly include artificial intelligence-generated images and raises the age threshold for certain child pornography offenses from under 16 to under 18. These provisions take effect October 1, 2026.
Parents gain the legal right to pursue nominal, actual, punitive, and attorney fees from online platforms that expose minors to exploitation material, while internet service providers and cloud storage providers maintain explicit exemptions under specified operational conditions.
Who It Would Affect
Groups the bill's text would affect if enacted, as described in the record. Being affected is not a position for or against it.
Online platforms
Online platforms face joint and several civil liability and potential lawsuits from parents for knowingly distributing or creating unlawful child exploitation material.
Parents and legal guardians
Parents and legal guardians gain the legal authorization to file civil lawsuits against online platforms for damages and legal costs when their minor children are exposed to or depicted in unlawful material.
Internet service providers
Internet service providers, search engines, and cloud service providers receive explicit statutory exemptions from liability while performing routine transmission, routing, or storage functions.
Key Facts
- Online platforms are prohibited from knowingly and intentionally issuing, selling, delivering, distributing, transferring, disseminating, creating, or developing unlawful child exploitation material on or using the Internet.
- Parents or legal guardians of a minor depicted in or exposed to unlawful child exploitation material may bring an action against the online platform for nominal damages, actual damages, court costs, punitive damages, and reasonable attorney's fees.
- The Attorney General is authorized to seek injunctive or equitable relief to enforce the provisions of the Act.
- Internet service providers, search engines, and cloud service providers are exempt from liability to the extent they solely transmit, route, store, or provide connections without being responsible for creating the material.
Show all 10 facts
- Online platforms found in violation are held jointly and severally liable, and individual claims may be combined in a single action or class action.
- Sovereign immunity is not an affirmative defense to a violation, and plaintiffs may bring an action without exhausting administrative remedies.
- The definition of 'computer-generated image' in crimes involving child pornography is expanded to include images created through the use of artificial intelligence software.
- The requisite age of a child considered to be a victim of certain child pornography crimes is increased from under 16 to under 18 years old.
- A first-time violation of possessing or accessing prohibited child exploitation material remains a misdemeanor subject to up to 5 years imprisonment or a $2,500 fine, while repeat convictions are felonies subject to up to 10 years imprisonment or a $10,000 fine.
- The Act takes effect on October 1, 2026.
Frequently Asked Questions
Are internet service providers held liable under this legislation?
What damages are available in a civil lawsuit against an online platform?
What else do you want to know?
News Coverage
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Votes, people, money & the original sourceWhere This Stands
Currently filed. The next step in the legislative lifecycle is Committee.
Procedural history
1 action- Feb 18, 2026SenateIntroducedFirst Reading Senate Rules
Version history
Only one version on file - nothing to compare yet. As later stages (committee substitute, engrossed, enrolled) are captured, the redline appears here.
View official text →Lobbying Activity
No state lobbying filings in our records match this bill. Federal lobbying reports (LDA) cover Congress, so they are not listed on state bills.
Full breakdown
Who this bill affects and the strongest case for and against it, written only from the bill’s own text.
Sponsors
Discoveries
Patterns POLISCOPE noticed across the record. These are observations to investigate, not conclusions.
Expansion of Civil Liability to Digital Intermediaries
The bill establishes a direct private right of action for parents against online platforms, bypassing traditional limits on civil recovery when criminal convictions are absent.
Connected Entities
Sources
mgaleg.maryland.gov
Analysis Score
0–100- Significance85How much this matters to a regular citizen
- Controversy40Intensity of disagreement among stakeholders
- Entertainment10Compellingness for a non-policy-wonk reader
- Buzz50Current news / social attention level
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