United States of America: Governor signed Bill to expand criminal offences related to child sexual abuse material (HB 1877)

On 22 April 2025, the Governor of Arkansas signed House Bill 1877 into law as Act 977 of 2025, enacting amendments to the Arkansas Protection of Children Against Exploitation Act of 1979. The Law expands criminal offences related to child sexual abuse material (CSAM) by prohibiting the possession of computer-generated visual or print media that is indistinguishable from the image of a real child engaged in sexually explicit conduct. It introduces statutory definitions for “computer generated,” “indistinguishable,” and “adversarial testing” and includes exemptions for materials viewed during lawful law enforcement investigations or AI safety evaluations conducted in good faith by interactive computer services.