California Protecting Our Children from Online Extortion Act (SB 1015)

Properties

kind: law
target: likeness
jurisdiction: US, California
mechanism: Amends California's contact-with-a-minor and extortion statutes to explicitly include threats, intimidation, or coercion made using an AI-generated deepfake image as a means of committing the offense. The bill's text at Section 518(c)(2)(A) covers threats made with an image 'including an image of an intimate body part that is produced by artificial intelligence and depicts the identity of another minor.' It also creates a related offense for a minor who coerces or uses another minor to harm, groom, harass, or exploit a third minor. Where the perpetrator is a minor ineligible for diversion services under Welfare and Institutions Code Section 654, the offense is a misdemeanor.
status: committee
owns: Distinct from ca-deepfake-pornography-act (a civil cause of action under Civil Code 1708.86 for disclosure or creation of AI-altered sexual depictions generally) by operating through the criminal extortion and minor-contact statutes specifically for deepfake images used as leverage against minors, rather than creating a standalone civil claim available to victims of any age.
source: California Legislative Information, SB-1015 bill text
notes: Authored by Sen. Tony Strickland; titled the 'Protecting Our Children from Online Extortion Act' per the author's own site (sr36.senate.ca.gov). Passed the full Senate 33-0 on May 22, 2026; approved by Assembly Public Safety Committee 9-0 on June 23, 2026; per the Transparency Coalition's August 14, 2026 legislative tracker, the bill was 'Held in Assembly Appropriations Committee on Aug. 13, 2026,' meaning it has not advanced to an Assembly floor vote as of this writing and its status within the 2026-08-05 to 2026-08-19 window changed from pending-in-Appropriations to held-in-Appropriations.

Provenance

Source: https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billTextClient.xhtml?bill_id=202520260SB1015

Properties

kind

law

target

likeness

jurisdiction

US, California

mechanism

Amends California's contact-with-a-minor and extortion statutes to explicitly include threats, intimidation, or coercion made using an AI-generated deepfake image as a means of committing the offense. The bill's text at Section 518(c)(2)(A) covers threats made with an image 'including an image of an intimate body part that is produced by artificial intelligence and depicts the identity of another minor.' It also creates a related offense for a minor who coerces or uses another minor to harm, groom, harass, or exploit a third minor. Where the perpetrator is a minor ineligible for diversion services under Welfare and Institutions Code Section 654, the offense is a misdemeanor.

status

committee

owns

Distinct from ca-deepfake-pornography-act (a civil cause of action under Civil Code 1708.86 for disclosure or creation of AI-altered sexual depictions generally) by operating through the criminal extortion and minor-contact statutes specifically for deepfake images used as leverage against minors, rather than creating a standalone civil claim available to victims of any age.

source

California Legislative Information, SB-1015 bill text

notes

Authored by Sen. Tony Strickland; titled the 'Protecting Our Children from Online Extortion Act' per the author's own site (sr36.senate.ca.gov). Passed the full Senate 33-0 on May 22, 2026; approved by Assembly Public Safety Committee 9-0 on June 23, 2026; per the Transparency Coalition's August 14, 2026 legislative tracker, the bill was 'Held in Assembly Appropriations Committee on Aug. 13, 2026,' meaning it has not advanced to an Assembly floor vote as of this writing and its status within the 2026-08-05 to 2026-08-19 window changed from pending-in-Appropriations to held-in-Appropriations.