Title 18 — Crimes and Criminal ProcedureRelease 119-73

§2252C Misleading words or digital images on the Internet

Title 18 › Part PART I— - CRIMES › Chapter CHAPTER 110— - SEXUAL EXPLOITATION AND OTHER ABUSE OF CHILDREN › § 2252C

Last updated Apr 6, 2026|Official source

Summary

Hiding words or digital images in a website’s source code to trick people into seeing obscene material is a crime. Punishment is a federal fine and up to 10 years in prison. If the deception targets a minor and the content is harmful to minors, the penalty is a federal fine and up to 20 years in prison. Obvious sexual labels (like "sex" or "porn") are not misleading. "Material harmful to minors" and "sex" use the meanings given in another federal law. "Source code" means the visible and hidden text and characters of a web page.

Full Legal Text

Title 18, §2252C

Crimes and Criminal Procedure — Source: USLM XML via OLRC

(a)Whoever knowingly embeds words or digital images into the source code of a website with the intent to deceive a person into viewing material constituting obscenity shall be fined under this title and imprisoned for not more than 10 years.

(b)Whoever knowingly embeds words or digital images into the source code of a website with the intent to deceive a minor into viewing material harmful to minors on the Internet shall be fined under this title and imprisoned for not more than 20 years.

(c)For the purposes of this section, a word or digital image that clearly indicates the sexual content of the site, such as “sex” or “porn”, is not misleading.

(d)As used in this section—

(1)the terms “material that is harmful to minors” and “sex” have the meaning given such terms in section 2252B; and

(2)the term “source code” means the combination of text and other characters comprising the content, both viewable and nonviewable, of a web page, including any website publishing language, programming language, protocol or functional content, as well as any successor languages or protocols.

Reference

Citations & Metadata

Citation

18 U.S.C. § 2252C

Title 18 — Crimes and Criminal Procedure

Last Updated

Apr 6, 2026

Release point: 119-73