Legislature Advances Curbs on Sharing Explicit Images

West Virginia’s House has voted to make it a crime to publicly display, distribute or threaten to disclose sexually explicit or intimate images of someone else without their consent.

Judiciary Committee Chairman John Shott says the purpose is to criminalize “revenge porn.”

The Senate voted 31-0 in February to pass the bill.

It would establish a misdemeanor subject to fines of $1,000 to $5,000 and up to a year in jail.

A second offense would be a felony, punishable by up to three years in prison and a fine ranging from $2,500 to $10,000.

The House has amended it to include language on intent so it applies to public posting of those private images intended to harass, intimidate, threaten or profit from it.