(1) If a covered interactive computer service provider knowingly and willfully violates Section 11-79-5 and the Attorney General finds that bringing an action against the covered interactive computer service provider is in the public interest, the Attorney General may bring an action in a Hinds County circuit court or a circuit court in any county in which the minor accessed the covered interactive computer service in question in the course of conduct that constitutes the violation to enjoin the violation, recover a civil penalty, and obtain such declaratory and other relief as the court considers appropriate.
(2) A civil penalty imposed under this section for a violation of Section 11-79-5 may be in an amount equal to Ten Thousand Dollars ($10,000.00) per instance for each violation of Section 11-79-3.
(3) The amount of a civil penalty imposed under this section shall be based on the following factors:(a) The seriousness of the violation, including the nature, circumstances, extent and gravity of the violation;(b) The history of previous violations;(c) The amount necessary to deter a future violation;(d) The economic effect of a penalty on the entity on whom the penalty will be imposed;(e) The entity’s knowledge that the act constituted a violation of Section 11-79-5; and(f) Any other matter that justice may require.
(a) The seriousness of the violation, including the nature, circumstances, extent and gravity of the violation;
(b) The history of previous violations;
(c) The amount necessary to deter a future violation;
(d) The economic effect of a penalty on the entity on whom the penalty will be imposed;
(e) The entity’s knowledge that the act constituted a violation of Section 11-79-5; and
(f) Any other matter that justice may require.
(4) The Attorney General may recover reasonable and necessary attorney’s fees, costs and reasonable expenses of litigation incurred in an action under this section, including, but not limited to, expert witness fees and court reporter’s fees.
(5) One-half (1/2) of any penalty recovered under this section shall be payable to the Office of Consumer Protection to be deposited into the Attorney General’s special fund. All monies collected under this section and deposited into the Attorney General’s special fund shall be used by the Attorney General for consumer fraud education and investigative and enforcement operations of the Office of Consumer Protection. The other one-half (1/2) of the monies collected under this section shall be payable to the Department of Education to fund Sections 37-3-109 and 37-3-111.
(6) If a covered interactive computer service provider knowingly and willfully violates Section 11-79-5, and such violation or violations proximately causes a minor’s repeated exposure to material harmful to minors, as that term is defined in Section 11-79-3(g), then the minor’s parent or legal guardian may bring an action on behalf of the minor against the covered interactive computer service provider in the Circuit Court of any county in which the violation or any part of it, including any incidence of such exposure, occurred. In such action, the minor’s parent or legal guardian may recover on behalf of the minor: actual damages (both economic and non-economic), reasonable and necessary attorney’s fees, costs and reasonable expenses of litigation incurred in the action, including, but limited to, expert witness fees. If the covered interactive computer service provider acted with reckless disregard, then punitive damages may also be awarded in the action.