Section 21.19 is Texas's "cyber-flashing" law, enacted in 2019. It makes sending an unsolicited explicit image a criminal offense.
What the Statute Prohibits
A person commits an offense if the person knowingly transmits by electronic means visual material that:
- depicts any person engaging in sexual conduct or with the person's intimate parts exposed, or covered genitals of a male person that are in a discernibly turgid state; and
- is not sent at the request of or with the express consent of the recipient.
"Intimate parts," "sexual conduct," and "visual material" carry the definitions used in Section 21.16.
Penalty
A Class C misdemeanor — a fine of up to $500, with no confinement.
Paying the fine is a conviction. It appears on background checks, and because of the nature of the allegation it draws attention from employers, licensing boards, and schools in a way that an ordinary Class C does not. A dismissal can be expunged; a conviction generally cannot.
Defenses
Consent or request. The statute excludes material sent at the recipient's request or with express consent. A prior course of consensual exchange, flirtatious messages immediately preceding, or an explicit invitation are all directly relevant — and are usually preserved in the same message thread the State intends to use.
Knowledge. The transmission must be knowing. Misdirected messages, group threads, autocomplete errors in a recipient field, and cloud-sync features that share albums are genuine and provable.
The content does not meet the definition. The statute is specific about what must be depicted. Images that do not show exposed intimate parts, sexual conduct, or the described state fall outside it.
Identity. Account compromise, shared devices, and shared family accounts.
Who is the recipient. The statute addresses transmission to another person's device or account. Posting to one's own page or a general forum is a different question and may implicate different statutes.
Related
Charged in Harris County?
Brian Foley is Board Certified in Criminal Law by the Texas Board of Legal Specialization and a former Harris County Felony Chief Prosecutor; Luis Baez is a former Trial Bureau Chief. Call or text (713) 703-1718 for a free, confidential consultation.