It's now illegal in Massachusetts to share explicit images without the person's consent.
Governor Maura Healey signed the so-called revenge porn bill into law today.
It also addresses AI generated explicit images.
“This law will save lives and strengthens our efforts to hold accountable those who would engage in abusive, coercive and deeply harmful behavior. This is about stopping violence, because nobody deserves to be subjected to threats, abuse or control,” said Governor Maura Healey. “We’re grateful to the Legislature for their hard work on this legislation, as well as to all of the survivors who bravely came forward to share their powerful stories of pain, fear and trauma to make a difference for generations to come.”
“The diversion and education components of this bill are so important to make sure young people understand the dangers of sexting and deepfakes, especially as the technology available to them is rapidly changing,” said Lieutenant Governor Kim Driscoll. “It also takes the critical step of expanding the definition of abuse to include coercive control, which will further support survivors of domestic violence that might not be physical, but still causes lasting harm and trauma.”
The law creates a diversion program for minors who share explicit images to teach them about the dangers of sexting. It allows minors charged with possessing or distributing nude images of other minors to be tried as juveniles in Juvenile Court, and it requires DESE to encourage school districts to implement age-appropriate instruction on media literacy skills for all grade levels.
The Commonwealth is the 49th state to enact such a law.
(Photo Credit: Joshua Qualls, Governor's Office)