18 U.S.C. Section 2257 statement

A short compliance statement explaining why federal record-keeping obligations do not apply to editorial coverage of the DarLink AI platform on darlink-ai.io.

What Section 2257 requires

Section 2257 of Title 18 of the United States Code, together with 28 C.F.R. Part 75, imposes record-keeping and labelling obligations on producers of certain visual depictions of actual sexually explicit conduct. Producers falling under the statute must retain records verifying that every performer depicted was 18 or older at the time of production, and must display a compliance notice identifying the custodian of records.

Why the requirement does not apply here

darlink-ai.io does not produce, host, or distribute visual depictions of sexually explicit conduct. The output of this site is written editorial coverage of the DarLink AI platform, screenshots of that platform in ordinary operation, generated brand illustrations (logos, decorative images, social share cards), and citations of third-party research. None of that meets the statutory definition of matter subject to Section 2257 record-keeping.

Where this site links out to DarLink AI itself, or to alternative platforms named on the main DarLink AI page, those platforms are independent third parties responsible for their own compliance under U.S. federal law and any equivalent frameworks in the jurisdictions where they operate. Their obligations are theirs.

Third-party platforms linked from this site

Coverage on darlink-ai.io references DarLink AI at darlink.ai and the alternative companion platforms named on the main page: Candy AI, FantasyGF, CrushOn AI, Character.AI, Replika, and Janitor AI. Any statutory record-keeping obligation attached to material hosted on those platforms sits with those platforms. Nothing on darlink-ai.io should be read as taking on Section 2257 responsibility for content published elsewhere.

Voluntary adult policy

Independent of Section 2257, darlink-ai.io restricts access to adult readers through an 18+ self-certification gate on first load. Detail on the gate and how it works sits on the age verification page. The gate reflects the framing of editorial coverage on the site, not a statutory requirement.

Amendment history

Substantive changes to this statement bump the schema dateModified value on the page and are noted on the editorial policy correction log. Prose polish and typo fixes are not logged. Scope or applicability changes are.

Contact and further reading

Compliance queries route to the editor via LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/melissablake1. Wider editorial context: about the coverage, review methodology, editorial policy, editor profile. Data handling: privacy policy. Reader agreement: terms of service.

Last reviewed: October 6, 2026