Virginia digital reality posture profile
This page summarizes six tracked digital safety topics for Virginia, showing where public legislative coverage currently looks more proactive, more reactive, broader, or thinner. It is a structural posture signal based on public disclosures, not a political or legal grade.
Educational summary only
Not legal advice. Laws and enforcement change frequently. Verify current official statutes, regulations, and counsel where needed.
Overall state posture signal
Proactive-leaning posture with narrow tracked coverage.
Based on six tracked topics and public disclosures.
Posture meter
Lean and breadth across six tracked topics. Not a quality or political score.
Lean
Proactive-leaning
Breadth
Narrow tracked coverage
Virginia Synthetic Explicit Content law summary
Based on adjacent fraud, privacy, impersonation, or child-safety coverage.
In Virginia, it is a crime to maliciously share a sexually explicit image of a real, recognizable person that was digitally created, adapted, or modified to depict them without consent — the state's dissemination law (Va. Code § 18.2-386.2) reaches images "created by any means whatsoever," and its 2019 amendment (HB 2678) made Virginia the first state to criminalize deepfake "revenge porn" distribution, effective July 1, 2019, as a Class 1 misdemeanor. Separately, Virginia's child-pornography definition (§ 18.2-374.1) reaches computer-generated depictions of minors, stating that "the minor depicted does not have to actually exist." Both provisions are in effect as of July 2026. These are general dissemination and CSAM statutes expanded to cover synthetic content, rather than a single dedicated AI/deepfake law.
Educational summary only
Not legal advice. Laws and enforcement change frequently. Verify current official statutes, regulations, and counsel where needed.
Why this status
Based on adjacent fraud, privacy, impersonation, or child-safety coverage.
What this means
- Virginia reaches synthetic explicit content through two enacted general statutes — an NCII dissemination law covering images "created by any means whatsoever" and a child-pornography definition where "the minor depicted does not have to actually exist" — rather than one dedicated AI/deepfake statute.
What to do next
- Read the cited statute or bill text linked below to confirm the specifics for your state.
Citation-grade sources
Official sources
2Va. Code § 18.2-374.1 — Production, etc., of child pornography; definitions
Official textCitation: § 18.2-374.1's child-pornography definition states 'the minor depicted does not have to actually exist,' reaching computer-generated/synthetic depictions of minors; 'sexually explicit visual material' includes 'digital image ... or similar visual representation.'
Observed: 2026-07-07Open sourceVa. Code § 18.2-386.2 — Unlawful dissemination or sale of images of another; penalty
Official textCitation: § 18.2-386.2 criminalizes malicious dissemination of a nude/sexual image 'created by any means whatsoever' and defines 'another person' to include an image 'used in creating, adapting, or modifying' an image to depict a recognizable actual person; a Class 1 misdemeanor, effective July 1, 2019.
Observed: 2026-07-07Open source
Provenance
Source basis
Official/public links curated
Confidence
High confidence
Review scope
Review centered on currently tracked state-level law
Last reviewed
2026-07-07 · 7 July 2026
References
Va. Code § 18.2-374.1 — Production, etc., of child pornography; definitions
Va. Code § 18.2-386.2 — Unlawful dissemination or sale of images of another; penalty
Open Virginia topic pages
Notify me when Virginia updates
We'll email when this state's posture record changes. No spam, unsubscribe in one click.