Unlawful Production or Distribution of Certain Sexually Explicit Media (deepfakes)
Texas Deepfake Law
Artificial intelligence · Other
Criminalizes creating or distributing AI-generated or altered sexual images or videos of real people without their written consent, and threatening to do so. Disclaimers are no defense; S.B. 441 (2025) added written-consent requirements and defenses for intermediaries and AI providers whose terms prohibit such content.
- Where
- Texas
- Citation
- Tex. Penal Code 21.165
- Status
- In force
- In force since
- 2023-09-01
- Last amended
- 2025-09-01
- Enforced by
- State prosecutors
- People can sue
- No
- Penalties
- Class A misdemeanor; third-degree felony for repeat offenses or depictions of minors; threats are a Class B or Class A misdemeanor (21.165(c), (c-1)).
- Applies to
- Any person who knowingly produces or electronically distributes, or threatens to distribute, sexually explicit deep fake media depicting a real person without written consent (21.165(b), (b-1))
Practices it requires
- Do not produce or distribute sexually explicit deep fake media of a real person without a signed plain-language written consent describing the media.Tex. Penal Code 21.165(b), (b-2)
Other duties
- Labels or disclaimers stating the media is not authentic are not a defense.Tex. Penal Code 21.165(c-2)
- AI application providers have an affirmative defense if their user-acknowledged terms prohibit such content (and other conditions in the section are met).Tex. Penal Code 21.165(c-5)
Sources
- Official text
- Tex. Penal Code ch. 21 (Texas Legislature, Texas Constitution and Statutes)
- Tex. Penal Code ch. 21, statute text file served by the Texas Legislative Council
Checked against these sources on 2026-09-24 by research agent (Claude), primary sources.
Unverified: The remaining conditions of the AI-provider defense in 21.165(c-5) were not read in full.
Research reference, not legal advice.