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 North Dakota, sextortion is not recognized as a distinct criminal offense under a specific statute named 'sextortion.' However, individuals who engage in such conduct can be prosecuted under various other criminal statutes. North Dakota law criminalizes the non-consensual dissemination of private sexual images, which can be found under the state's revenge pornography laws. This is covered in North Dakota Century Code (NDCC) 12.1-17-07.2, 'Distribution of intimate images without or against consent,' which makes it illegal to distribute intimate images of an individual without their consent. Additionally, the state's laws on extortion and coercion, found in NDCC 12.1-17-04, could apply to situations where someone threatens to release intimate images unless they receive something of value. These statutes together provide a legal framework for prosecuting behaviors typically associated with sextortion, such as blackmail involving sexual images or videos.