§ 52-D — Private right of action for unlawful dissemination or publication of a personal image

§ 52-d. Private right of action for unlawful dissemination or\npublication of a personal image. 1. Any crime victim depicted in a still\nor video image which was unlawfully disseminated as provided in section\n250.71 of the penal law shall have a cause of action against such\nindividual who disseminated or published such still or video image\nwithout the consent of the person depicted in the image in violation of\nsection 250.71 of the penal law.\n 2. In any action commenced pursuant to subdivision one of this\nsection, the finder of fact, in its discretion, may award injunctive\nrelief, punitive damages, compensatory damages and reasonable court\ncosts and attorneys' fees.\n 3. This section shall not apply to the following:\n a. the reporting of suspected unlawful conduct to law enforcement;\n b. the dissemination or publication of an image made in the course of\nofficial law enforcement duties, legal proceedings or criminal\nprosecution, or medical treatment; or\n c. the dissemination or publication of an image made for a legitimate\npublic discourse concerning local, national, or worldwide events or\nother matters of public concern or public interest or affecting the\npublic welfare; any work of public interest, educational or newsworthy\nvalue, including comment, criticism, parody or satire, and works of\nentertainment, regardless of the degree of fictionalization; or an\nadvertisement or commercial announcement for any of the foregoing works.\n 4. Any such crime victim depicted in a still or video image which was\nunlawfully disseminated as provided in section 250.71 of the penal law,\nor such person's estate, may maintain an action or special proceeding\nfor a court order to require any social media platform that is subject\nto personal jurisdiction under subdivision five of this section to\npermanently remove such still or video image; any such court order\ngranted pursuant to this subdivision may direct removal only as to\nimages that are reasonably within such social media platform's control.\n 5. A cause of action or special proceeding under this section shall be\ncommenced the later of either:\n a. three years after the dissemination or publication of such image;\nor\n b. one year from the date the plaintiff or petitioners discovered, or\nreasonably should have discovered, such dissemination or publication of\nsuch image.\n 6. Nothing in this section shall be read to require a prior criminal\ncomplaint, prosecution or conviction to establish the elements of the\ncause of action provided for by this section.\n 7. The provisions of this section are in addition to, but shall not\nsupersede, any other rights or remedies available in law or equity.\n 8. If any provision of this section or its application to any person\nor circumstance is held invalid, the invalidity shall not affect other\nprovisions or applications of this section which can be given effect\nwithout the invalid provision or application, and to this end the\nprovisions of this section are severable.\n 9. Nothing in this section shall be construed to limit, or to enlarge,\nthe protections that 47 U.S.C. § 230 confers on an interactive computer\nservice for content provided by another information content provider, as\nsuch terms are defined in 47 U.S.C. § 230.\n