ST. PAUL, Minn. – A bill is bouncing around the Minnesota Senate to stiffen penalties significantly for super-photo-shopping images and videos into lewd nudes of minors. The sponsor, Erin Maye Quade, D-Apple Valley, seeks a minimum $500,000 fine for every time a modified image is downloaded. An earlier law, passed in 2013, allowed for $10,000 fines. The 2013 law focused only people who create who fake portrayals. The Maye Quade bill aims much wider — at companies like Apple and Google supply the Artificial Intelligence tools that can be used to “nudify” images of children. The bill cleared Commerce and Consumer Protection Committee on Februry 10 and now is before the Judiciary and Public Safety Committee.

Maye Quade. Elected to Minnesota Senate in 2022 Earlier in House.

Verbatim

Maye Quade: ““Any person could take a picture of our children or our grandchildren from online, from the grocery store playing in the park and put it into an app and create a very real pornographic video of them. These apps are available on every computer, every cell phone, downloadable by any age. They’re available in Apple store and the Google store.”