There is no single, national "sexting law" in the United States. Instead, each state sets its own rules for how it treats sexual images involving minors, and those rules fall into a few recognizable categories. Understanding which category your state falls into helps you know roughly what to expect — but because legislatures update these laws regularly, this page describes the general frameworks rather than citing specific statute numbers. For the most current, state-by-state statute text, we point to the Cyberbullying Research Center's sexting law database, which is updated as legislation changes, and recommend confirming with a local attorney before making decisions based on any website, including this one.
The three broad legal frameworks states use
| Framework | What it generally means |
|---|---|
| Dedicated juvenile "sexting" statute | Some states have passed laws specifically for minors exchanging images with each other, usually classifying a first offense as a misdemeanor, requiring an education program, or diverting the case away from the sex-offender registry track that applies to adult CSAM offenses. |
| No separate statute — handled under general CSAM/child pornography law | States without a dedicated juvenile provision may prosecute peer sexting under the same statutes used for adult exploitation cases. In practice, prosecutorial discretion plays a large role here — many prosecutors decline to pursue felony charges against two teenagers in a consensual relationship — but the legal exposure on paper can still be severe. |
| Non-consensual sharing (NCII) statutes | Separate from how the image was originally created, most states now criminalize forwarding, posting, or threatening to share an intimate image without the subject's consent — regardless of the age of the people involved. This is the framework most relevant to "revenge porn" and most sextortion-adjacent sharing. |
Federal law: the TAKE IT DOWN Act
Signed into federal law in May 2025, the TAKE IT DOWN Act requires covered platforms to remove non-consensual intimate images — including images of minors — within 48 hours of receiving a valid removal request from the person depicted or their parent/guardian. This applies nationwide regardless of which state you live in, and works alongside (not instead of) NCMEC's Take It Down tool and state-level reporting.
Factors that typically affect how a case is handled
- Age gap between the parties. Many diversion-style laws only apply when both parties are close in age (often within 2–4 years); a larger gap can trigger adult-exploitation statutes even if both are technically minors.
- Whether any adult (18+) was involved at any point — soliciting, receiving, or possessing the image.
- Whether the image was shared consensually versus forwarded/leaked without consent.
- Whether there was coercion, payment demands, or threats — which shifts a case toward sextortion statutes and federal involvement.
- Prior offenses and local prosecutorial policy, which vary by county even within the same state.
What to do regardless of which state you're in
- Preserve evidence (screenshots, usernames, timestamps) without forwarding or re-sending any image.
- Report to NCMEC's CyberTipline, which routes reports appropriately regardless of state.
- Use NCMEC's Take It Down tool to request removal across major platforms at once.
- If there's any coercion, blackmail, or payment demand, contact local law enforcement immediately — this is treated seriously nationwide.
- Consult a licensed attorney in your state before making decisions based on legal category alone.