§ 98B.006.Jurisdiction

A jurisdiction provision drawn as widely as the subject requires.

A court has personal jurisdiction if: the defendant resides in this state; the claimant depicted in the material resides in this state; the material is stored on a server located in this state; or the material is available for view in this state.

The fourth ground is extraordinarily broad. Material available for view in Texas is, for anything on the open internet, material available anywhere — which would make every such case triable here.

The reason for the breadth is the practical problem. A person whose images are circulating may have no idea who posted them or where that person is, and requiring a jurisdictional connection beyond the harm being felt here would leave many claimants without a forum.

The second ground is the one most often relied on — the claimant resides in Texas — and it is unremarkable as jurisdictional bases go.

The section states Texas law, not the constitutional limit. Personal jurisdiction must also satisfy federal due process — minimum contacts and purposeful availment — and a statute cannot dispense with that. The long-arm chapter operates the same way: the statute authorises, and the constitution constrains.

Whether mere viewability in Texas satisfies due process is a separate question from whether this section is met.