The criminal offense of sextortion is a form of blackmail or extortion and is committed when a person threatens to publish private nude, pornographic, or explicit photos, videos, or images of another person’s body or sexual activity unless the person provides something of value—such as money, sexual activity, more sexual images, or the performance of sexual acts (often online using webcams).

Sextortion laws vary from state to state and are sometimes part of a state’s laws regarding revenge pornography, blackmail, extortion, bribery, or cyberstalking and are prosecuted under those or other criminal offenses rather than as a specific offense called sextortion. These laws are generally located in a state’s statutes—often in the penal or criminal code—and are sometimes titled with descriptive names such as The Unlawful Disclosure or Promotion of Intimate Visual Material.

In Minnesota, sextortion is not recognized as a distinct criminal offense under a specific statute titled 'sextortion.' However, such conduct is typically prosecuted under existing statutes related to nonconsensual pornography, coercion, extortion, and criminal sexual conduct. Minnesota law criminalizes the nonconsensual dissemination of private sexual images under Minnesota Statutes Section 617.261, which could apply to some sextortion cases. Additionally, Minnesota's coercion statute, found in Section 609.27, may be used to prosecute individuals who use threats to obtain sexual images, acts, or other items of value. Extortion, which is the act of obtaining something through force or threats, is also illegal under Minnesota law and is covered by Section 609.27. These laws collectively address the behaviors involved in sextortion, and an attorney can help navigate the specific charges that may apply in a given case of sextortion.