TEXAS – Texas is cracking down on explicit content involving minors—whether real, drawn, or AI-generated.
Yep, even your anime waifu might be at risk.
The Texas legislature is proposing a bill that would make it illegal to possess, share, or create obscene visual material depicting children, even if it’s merely a drawing or an AI-generated image.
And the penalties? They’re no joke—ranging from a state jail felony to a second-degree felony for repeat offenses.
Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick emphasized the importance of careful regulation as Texas enters the digital age, stating, “our state must be very careful about our approach to artificial intelligence.” He adds, “with the proliferation of AI-generated pornography, steps must be taken to protect Texans, and specifically children, from harmful computer-generated content and the crimes that arise from it.”
Under this proposed law, you could be in trouble if you:
- Possess, access, or promote any obscene material that appears to show a minor under 18 engaged in sexual conduct—even if no real child was involved.
- Use AI, digital tools, or traditional art methods to create such images.
- Get caught more than once, which escalates the crime from a state jail felony to a second-degree felony.
Basically, if it looks like a minor, the law treats it as real.
According to the bill, “a person commits an offense if the person knowingly possesses, accesses with intent to view, or promotes obscene visual material containing a depiction that appears to be of a child younger than 18 years of age engaging in activities described by Section 43.21(a)(1)(B), regardless of whether the depiction is an image of an actual child, a cartoon or animation, or an image created using an artificial intelligence application or other computer software.”
Sounds good, right? Protect the kiddos.
But here’s the catch: the bill’s vague language is making a lot of people in the art and anime communities sweat.
And that’s where things get tricky.
Could this law unintentionally criminalize art, manga (comics or graphic novels originating from Japan), or even harmless visual content?
The anime and gaming communities could be especially impacted.
Popular anime series, fan art, and even certain fighting game character designs might now fall into a legal gray area.
Could a provocative anime character or a suggestive scene in a game be misinterpreted under this law? What about mature-rated games featuring young-looking fighters?
These are concerns that many fans and creators are now grappling with.
Denise Leigh, the owner of The Anime Bar, spoke out about how concerned creators are, saying, “there’s been a fear of this bill, because…it’s so vague." She went on to say, “I believe this bill is a protection against people who use free A.I. tools readily available on the internet to create, you know, deep fakes and obscene material.”
Leigh said it could be a tricky line—protecting kids from harm, but also not overregulating creative freedom.
And it’s not just creators who are feeling the heat. John Leigh, the Director of Anime Matsuri, said that the bill stirred up a lot of concern from out-of-state artists. “As soon as this [bill] hit the internet, we had calls, emails, people contacting...especially people that are from out of state that probably just, you know, don’t live here.”
John reassured the people who contacted him, saying, “It’s totally fine. It’s not targeted towards you. Texas is a great place for business...and we’ve never had any issues. We screen artists, and we have rules against this stuff anyway to begin with.”
Vincent Tran, the Otaku food festival organizer, who brought up a point that’s been bugging a lot of people in the anime community. He noted, “some Asian body types look more adolescent, and Japan’s otaku culture already has a history with this kind of thing.”
Tran continued, “I draw the line at actual porn, but some artists’ work might have to be disallowed at events.”
It’s a tough call, right? Is it art or is it crossing the line? The whole debate really boils down to the “obscene” factor.
Denise said, “art is very subjective. An artistic thing could be artistic to somebody and not to another.”
It’s all about how the bill defines obscenity—and that’s where the worries start.
Will an artist’s work be unfairly targeted because someone thinks it crosses the line?
John believes the bill is a good move, stating, “I think this is in the right direction. And I don’t think that this will negatively impact the anime community or art as a whole.”
For now, the anime community is just trying to figure out how to juggle the need to protect minors with the freedom of artistic expression.
As John put it, “This is nothing new. We’ve always had rules against this stuff.”
It’s just a matter of making sure those rules don’t stifle the art that fans love.
The bill was voted out of the Texas Senate Criminal Justice committee and on to the Texas House of Representatives on whether they will create a version of its own.
