West Virginia digital reality posture profile

West Virginia Synthetic Explicit Content law summary

West Virginia has two enacted rules that reach AI-made explicit content, and both are in effect as of July 2026. Senate Bill 198, signed in April 2025, makes it a felony to create, produce, distribute, or possess with intent to distribute an artificial-intelligence-created depiction of a minor in sexually explicit conduct that is obscene — and, based on the statute's text, it is not an element of the offense that the minor depicted actually exist (W. Va. Code §61-8C-3, carrying one-to-ten years and fines up to $20,000). Separately, West Virginia's nonconsensual-intimate-image law (§61-8-28A) reaches a "fabricated intimate image" created by artificial intelligence or other computer technology, so deepfaked intimate images of a real, identifiable person are covered as well. Based on public records, lawmakers also introduced further 2026 bills that would build on these AI protections.