Minnesota’s new law bans nonconsensual deepfake apps with fines up to $500,000

Minnesota has begun enforcing a first-of-its-kind restriction aimed at services that turn ordinary images of real people into realistic nude depictions without consent. The law reaches the owners of websites, apps, software and other services that provide the function, and it authorizes civil penalties as high as $500,000 for each unlawful access, download or use. It took effect Aug. 1, 2026.

The measure is narrower than a general ban on artificial intelligence or every kind of deepfake. It focuses on “nudification,” a defined category involving intimate parts added to an image or video of an identifiable person. The distinction matters because the law regulates a specific product function and carries an exception for tools requiring substantial human technical or artistic skill.

Chapter 72 targets the service before an image spreads

Minnesota’s earlier remedies largely addressed harmful images after creation or dissemination. The new approach moves upstream by prohibiting a service owner from allowing a person to access, download or use a tool to nudify an image, or from performing the transformation for a user. Advertising or promoting such a service is also prohibited.

The enacted text defines nudification as altering or generating an image or video to depict an intimate part absent from the original, with realism sufficient to make a reasonable person believe the depiction belongs to the identifiable individual. The complete requirements appear in Minnesota Session Law Chapter 72.

The $500,000 figure applies per unlawful access or use

The Minnesota attorney general may enforce the provision through the state’s consumer-protection authority. In addition to other remedies, a violator is subject to a civil penalty not exceeding $500,000 for each unlawful access, download or use. “Up to” is important: the statute sets a ceiling rather than an automatic fixed assessment in every case.

A depicted person can also bring a civil action. Available relief includes compensatory damages for mental anguish or suffering up to three times actual damages, punitive damages, an injunction, reasonable legal costs and other relief a court considers just. Those private remedies are separate from a penalty sought by the attorney general.

A technical-skill exception narrows the covered tools

The prohibition does not apply when a service requires substantial individualized technological or artistic skill and judgment by a human creator directing and controlling the output. That language attempts to distinguish automated, consumer-ready nudification from general creative software that can be used for many lawful purposes and requires meaningful human work.

The boundary is likely to matter in enforcement. A one-click feature marketed to produce realistic nude images sits close to the statute’s core, while a broad image editor with manual controls presents a more complicated question. Legislative discussion described the measure as a response to applications that make nonconsensual explicit imagery quick and accessible; a Minnesota House summary documented the bill’s wide bipartisan support.

Existing Minnesota law already addressed dissemination

Minnesota law provides a civil cause of action for nonconsensual dissemination of an intimate deepfake. That framework lets a depicted person seek damages and court orders against certain distributors, subject to statutory exceptions. The existing civil deepfake provision focuses on disclosure and harm after imagery exists.

The nudification law adds a different theory: preventing automated creation at the service level can reduce the supply before an image is posted, copied or used for harassment. The two approaches can overlap in a case, but their triggering conduct is not identical. Creation through a covered service can violate the new provision even before public distribution.

Jurisdiction and constitutional questions remain

Many AI services operate across state and national borders, creating practical questions about blocking Minnesota access and identifying the person responsible for a tool. A provider may need location controls, feature restrictions or a complete withdrawal from the state. Each option introduces questions about accuracy, circumvention and the treatment of travelers.

The law also sits near constitutional protections for expression and the federal rules governing online intermediaries. A court may eventually decide how its definitions, service-owner duties and exception apply to a particular platform. Enactment does not eliminate those disputes; it supplies the text that future cases will interpret.

The law changes the risk calculation for app operators

A company offering generative image features in Minnesota now has reason to examine whether a tool can create realistic intimate depictions of identifiable people without significant human skill. Product filters, access controls, complaint handling and advertising language may all become evidence in an enforcement action. A disclaimer alone cannot override what the service actually enables.

For depicted individuals, the statute creates both a preventive policy and direct civil remedies. For providers, the possible penalty makes a once-niche feature a major compliance risk. Minnesota’s experiment will test whether regulating the tool at the moment of creation can curb nonconsensual deepfakes more effectively than relying only on removal and lawsuits after the damage has begun.

This article was produced with the assistance of AI and reviewed by Morning Overview editors prior to publication.

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