Oklahoma § 15-791.2 - Commercial entities publishing or distributing material

§ 15-791.2. Commercial entities publishing or distributing material

harmful to minors — Blocking access — Liability — Age verification.

A. Any commercial entity that knowingly and intentionally

publishes or distributes material harmful to minors on the Internet

from a website that contains a substantial portion of such material

shall provide Internet service subscribers and cellular service

subscribers the opportunity, before any individual using such

services may access the material, to request that access to the

material by subscription service be denied.

B. Upon such request by an Internet service subscriber or

cellular service subscriber, a commercial entity shall, without

charge, block access to its website on any device seeking to access

its website using the subscriber’s Internet service or cellular

service subscription so that a minor does not receive material

harmful to minors via that subscription.

C. A commercial entity that fails to provide Internet service

subscribers or cellular service subscribers an opportunity to

request that access to the commercial entity’s website be blocked is

in violation of this act and may be held liable to the minor, by and

through the minor’s parent or legal guardian, for nominal damages,

actual damages, court costs, and reasonable attorney fees as ordered

by the court.

D. A commercial entity that, after receipt of such request to

block access, allows a minor to access material harmful to minors on

its website is in violation of this act and may be held liable to

the minor, by and through the minor’s parent or legal guardian, for

actual damages, court costs, and reasonable attorney fees as ordered

by the court.

E. A commercial entity that has violated this act in a manner

that satisfies the standards for imposition of punitive damages

Oklahoma Statutes - Title 15. Contracts

elsewhere provided by law may be held liable to the minor, by and

through the minor’s parent or legal guardian, for punitive damages.

F. Individual claims that satisfy the generally applicable

standards for joinder or class action elsewhere provided by law or

rules of court, as applicable, may combine their claims in a single

action.

G. A commercial entity shall not be held liable for allowing

access to its website if the entity performs reasonable age

verification methods to verify that the individual attempting to

access the material from its website is not a minor.

H. A commercial entity or third party that performs reasonable

age verification methods shall not retain any identifying

information of the individual after access has been granted to the

material.

I. A commercial entity that is found to have knowingly retained

identifying information of the individual, except as is reasonably

necessary to effectuate a block request under this section, shall be

liable to the individual for damages resulting from retaining the

identifying information, including court costs and reasonable

attorney fees as ordered by the court.

J. This section shall not apply to any bona fide news or public

interest broadcast, website video, report, or event and shall not be

construed to affect the rights of a news-gathering organization,

unless the organization’s website contains a substantial portion of

material harmful to minors.

K. No Internet service provider, affiliate or subsidiary of an

Internet service provider, search engine, or cloud service provider

shall be held to have violated the provisions of this section solely

for providing access or connection to or from a website or other

information or content on the Internet, or a facility, system, or

network not under the provider’s control, including transmission,

downloading, storing, or providing access, to the extent that such

provider is not responsible for the creation of the content of the

communication that constitutes obscene material or material harmful

to minors.

Added by Laws 2024, c. 181, § 3, eff. Nov. 1, 2024.