South Carolina General Assembly
122nd Session, 2017-2018

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Indicates New Matter

H. 3014

STATUS INFORMATION

General Bill
Sponsors: Rep. McKnight
Document Path: l:\council\bills\nbd\11023cz17.docx

Introduced in the House on January 10, 2017
Currently residing in the House Committee on Judiciary

Summary: Malicious publication of photographs

HISTORY OF LEGISLATIVE ACTIONS 

     Date      Body   Action Description with journal page number
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
  12/15/2016  House   Prefiled
  12/15/2016  House   Referred to Committee on Judiciary
   1/10/2017  House   Introduced and read first time (House Journal-page 41)
   1/10/2017  House   Referred to Committee on Judiciary 
                        (House Journal-page 41)

View the latest legislative information at the website

VERSIONS OF THIS BILL

12/15/2016

(Text matches printed bills. Document has been reformatted to meet World Wide Web specifications.)

A BILL

TO AMEND THE CODE OF LAWS OF SOUTH CAROLINA, 1976, BY ADDING SECTION 15-75-70 SO AS TO PROVIDE A CIVIL CAUSE OF ACTION FOR A PERSON HARMED BY THE MALICIOUS PUBLICATION OF PHOTOGRAPHS ON A SOCIAL MEDIA WEBSITE AND TO DEFINE NECESSARY TERMS.

Be it enacted by the General Assembly of the State of South Carolina:

SECTION    1.    Chapter 75, Title 15 of the 1976 Code is amended by adding:

"Section 15-75-70.    (A)    A person may be liable in a civil action for damages arising from the malicious publication of photographs or other similar images on a website accessible by the public including, but not limited to, a social media website if he intends to harm the person's character or reputation and such harm to the person's character or reputation is proven by a preponderance of the evidence.

(B)    As used in this section, the term:

(1)    'Malicious' means an action taken with actual malice aforethought.

(2)    'Photograph' includes all photographs, including those which are unaltered, retouched, or otherwise edited.

(3)    'Publication' means the dissemination of the photograph without the knowledge or consent of the party in the photograph.

(4)    'Social Media' means a category of Internet sites based on user participation and user-generated content centered on user interaction."

SECTION    2.    This act takes effect upon approval by the Governor.

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This web page was last updated on January 11, 2017 at 11:23 AM