Do you support this bill?

Senate Bill S9176

2025-2026 Legislative Session

Relates to private rights of action for certain unlawfully disseminated images or depictions of individuals

download bill text pdf

Sponsored By

Current Bill Status - In Senate Committee Codes Committee

Please enter your contact information

Home address is used to determine the senate district in which you reside. Your support or opposition to this bill is then shared immediately with the senator who represents you.

Optional services from the NY State Senate:

Create an account. An account allows you to officially support or oppose key legislation, sign petitions with a single click, and follow issues, committees, and bills that matter to you. When you create an account, you agree to this platform's terms of participation.

Include a custom message for your Senator? (Optional)

Enter a message to your senator. Many New Yorkers use this to share the reasoning behind their support or opposition to the bill. Others might share a personal anecdote about how the bill would affect them or people they care about.

Actions

2025-S9176 (ACTIVE) - Details

Current Committee:
Senate Codes
Law Section:
Civil Rights Law
Laws Affected:
Amd §§52-b & 52-c, Civ Rts L

2025-S9176 (ACTIVE) - Summary

Imposes a penalty of $20,000 per violation for violations of certain provisions relating to unlawfully disseminated images or depictions of individuals; clarifies that the owner or a wholly owned subsidiary of the owner of a website that hosts or transmits such images or depictions shall be liable for such violations; removes certain language restricting such violations to instances where such images or depictions were made for the purposes of harassing or annoying the individual; makes related provisions.

2025-S9176 (ACTIVE) - Sponsor Memo

2025-S9176 (ACTIVE) - Bill Text download pdf 

                             
                     S T A T E   O F   N E W   Y O R K
 ________________________________________________________________________
 
                                   9176
 
                             I N  S E N A T E
 
                             February 11, 2026
                                ___________
 
 Introduced  by  Sen.  MAY  --  read  twice and ordered printed, and when
   printed to be committed to the Committee on Codes
 
 AN ACT to amend the civil rights law, in relation to private  rights  of
   action  for  certain  unlawfully  disseminated images or depictions of
   individuals
 
   THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK, REPRESENTED IN SENATE AND  ASSEM-
 BLY, DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:
 
   Section  1.  The opening paragraph of subdivision 1 of section 52-b of
 the civil rights law, as amended by section 3 of subpart A of part MM of
 chapter 58 of the laws of 2024, is amended to read as follows:
   Any person depicted in a still or  video  image,  including  an  image
 created  or  altered  by  digitization, regardless of whether or not the
 original still or video image was consensually obtained,  shall  have  a
 cause  of  action against an individual who, [for the purpose of harass-
 ing, annoying or alarming such person,] disseminated  or  published,  or
 threatened  to  disseminate or publish, such still or video image, where
 such image:
   § 2. Subdivision 2 of section 52-b of the civil rights law,  as  added
 by chapter 109 of the laws of 2019, is amended to read as follows:
   2.  In  any  action  commenced  pursuant  to  subdivision  one of this
 section[,]:
   (A) the finder of  fact,  in  its  discretion,  may  award  injunctive
 relief,  punitive damages IN ADDITION TO ANY IMPOSED UNDER PARAGRAPH (B)
 OF THIS SUBDIVISION, compensatory damages and reasonable court costs and
 attorney's fees; AND
   (B) THE COURT SHALL IMPOSE PUNITIVE DAMAGES OF TWENTY THOUSAND DOLLARS
 PER VIOLATION FOUND TO HAVE OCCURRED.
   § 3. Subdivision 5 of section 52-c of the civil rights law,  as  added
 by chapter 304 of the laws of 2020, is amended to read as follows:
   5. In any action commenced pursuant to this section[,]:
   (A)  the  finder  of  fact,  in  its  discretion, may award injunctive
 relief, punitive damages IN ADDITION TO ANY IMPOSED UNDER PARAGRAPH  (B)
 OF  THIS  SUBDIVISION,  compensatory damages, and reasonable court costs
 and attorney's fees; AND
 
  EXPLANATION--Matter in ITALICS (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
                       [ ] is old law to be omitted.

Comments

Open Legislation is a forum for New York State legislation. All comments are subject to review and community moderation is encouraged.

Comments deemed off-topic, commercial, campaign-related, self-promotional; or that contain profanity, hate or toxic speech; or that link to sites outside of the nysenate.gov domain are not permitted, and will not be published. Attempts to intimidate and silence contributors or deliberately deceive the public, including excessive or extraneous posting/posts, or coordinated activity, are prohibited and may result in the temporary or permanent banning of the user. Comment moderation is generally performed Monday through Friday. By contributing or voting you agree to the Terms of Participation and verify you are over 13.

Create an account. An account allows you to sign petitions with a single click, officially support or oppose key legislation, and follow issues, committees, and bills that matter to you. When you create an account, you agree to this platform's terms of participation.