18 USC § 2252B - Misleading domain names on the Internet

---
identifier: "/us/usc/t18/s2252B"
source: "usc"
legal_status: "official_legal_evidence"
title: "18 USC § 2252B - Misleading domain names on the Internet"
title_number: 18
title_name: "CRIMES AND CRIMINAL PROCEDURE"
section_number: "2252B"
section_name: "Misleading domain names on the Internet"
chapter_number: 110
chapter_name: "SEXUAL EXPLOITATION AND OTHER ABUSE OF CHILDREN"
part_number: "I"
part_name: "CRIMES"
positive_law: true
currency: "119-84"
last_updated: "2026-04-21"
format_version: "1.1.0"
generator: "[email protected]"
source_credit: "(Added Pub. L. 108–21, title V, § 521(a), Apr. 30, 2003, 117 Stat. 686; amended Pub. L. 109–248, title II, § 206(b)(4), July 27, 2006, 120 Stat. 614.)"
---


# § 2252B. Misleading domain names on the Internet

**(a)** Whoever knowingly uses a misleading domain name on the Internet with the intent to deceive a person into viewing material constituting obscenity shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than 2 years, or both.

**(b)** Whoever knowingly uses a misleading domain name on the Internet with the intent to deceive a minor into viewing material that is harmful to minors on the Internet shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than 10 years, or both.

**(c)** For the purposes of this section, a domain name that includes a word or words to indicate the sexual content of the site, such as “sex” or “porn”, is not misleading.

**(d)** For the purposes of this section, the term “material that is harmful to minors” means any communication, consisting of nudity, sex, or excretion, that, taken as a whole and with reference to its context—

**(1)** predominantly appeals to a prurient interest of minors;

**(2)** is patently offensive to prevailing standards in the adult community as a whole with respect to what is suitable material for minors; and

**(3)** lacks serious literary, artistic, political, or scientific value for minors.

**1** For the purposes of subsection (d), the term “sex” means acts of masturbation, sexual intercourse, or physcial [^1] contact with a person’s genitals, or the condition of human male or female genitals when in a state of sexual stimulation or arousal.

So in original. Probably should be “physical”.

---

**Source Credit**: (Added Pub. L. 108–21, title V, § 521(a), Apr. 30, 2003, 117 Stat. 686; amended Pub. L. 109–248, title II, § 206(b)(4), July 27, 2006, 120 Stat. 614.)

## Editorial Notes

### Amendments

2006—Subsec. (b).  substituted “10 years” for “4 years”.