A digitally altered image, under California AB 723, is a listing image changed through photo editing software or artificial intelligence to add, remove, or change elements of the property. The statute names them: fixtures, furniture, appliances, flooring, walls, paint colour, hardscape, landscape, facade, and elements outside the property.
It also names what is not covered, and that carve-out is the part worth reading closely. Lighting, sharpening, white balance, colour correction, angle, straightening, cropping, and exposure are explicitly excluded, along with other common adjustments that do not change the representation of the property.
AB 723 was approved on 10 October 2025 and took effect on 1 January 2026. It binds California listings. It matters in Florida because MLSs and brokerages have generally chosen to run one standard rather than maintain two.
Which Edits Trigger Disclosure and Which Do Not?
| Edit | Status under AB 723 | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Exposure, contrast, brightness | Exempt | Common adjustment, representation unchanged |
| White balance and colour correction | Exempt | Corrects the capture toward what the eye saw |
| Sharpening | Exempt | Named in the statutory carve-out |
| Cropping, straightening, lens correction | Exempt | Named in the statutory carve-out |
| Bracketed exposure blending | Exempt in substance | Recovers window and shadow detail that was in the scene |
| Replacing a flat grey sky with a blue one | Disclose | Changes an element outside the property |
| Virtual staging with added furniture | Disclose | Adds furniture |
| Removing a car, bins, or clutter | Disclose | Removes elements |
| Changing wall paint colour digitally | Disclose | Named directly in the statute |
| Greening a dormant or patchy lawn | Disclose | Changes landscape |
| Digitally adding a pool, deck, or structure | Disclose | Changes hardscape and facade |
| Removing a power line or neighbouring roof | Disclose | Changes elements outside the property |
| Twilight conversion of a daytime photo | Disclose | Synthesises a condition that did not exist at capture |
The dividing line is coherent once you see it: correcting how the camera recorded a scene is exempt, and changing what was in the scene is not.
Twilight conversion is the case that surprises agents most often. A genuine twilight photograph, taken at dusk with the interior lights on, is a photograph and needs no disclosure. A daytime frame converted to look like dusk is a manufactured condition, and it belongs on the disclose side of the line.
What Does the Disclosure Have to Say?
AB 723 requires the disclosure to state that the image has been altered and to include a link, URL, or QR code to a publicly accessible location holding the original unaltered image. It has to be reasonably conspicuous and placed on or adjacent to the image.
That second half is the operational burden and it is the part most workflows miss. Labelling an image "virtually staged" satisfies half the requirement. The unaltered original has to be reachable.
A violation is a misdemeanour. This is general information rather than legal advice, and the authoritative text is the bill itself, along with your own MLS rules and your broker's policy.
Does a Florida Agent Have to Comply?
Not as a matter of California law. A Florida listing marketed to Florida buyers is outside the statute's reach.
The practical answer is different. Most major MLSs already required virtual staging to be labelled, and through 2025 and 2026 they tightened those rules, many of them converging on what AB 723 describes. Stellar MLS publishes its own photo rules and they are the operative authority for a Central Florida listing.
Beyond MLS rules, the National Association of REALTORS Code of Ethics Article 12 requires a true picture in advertising, which does not have a state boundary. An undisclosed digitally added pool is a problem in Florida for reasons that have nothing to do with Sacramento.
What Does a Compliant Workflow Look Like?
- Keep the unedited original of every frame you alter. Not a reprocessed copy, the original.
- Label the altered image itself, on the image, not only in the listing remarks.
- Host the originals somewhere public and stable, and link or QR to them.
- Add a listing-level line as well, such as: some images are digitally staged, originals available on request.
- Never alter anything that hides a defect. That is the line no disclosure repairs.
Point five is worth stating plainly. Disclosure legitimises staging an empty room. It does not legitimise editing out a crack, a stain, or a sagging soffit. That is misrepresentation, and it stays misrepresentation with a caption attached.
How Does Jet Media Productions Handle This?
Every AI enhanced or virtually staged image is delivered as a labelled pair: the altered file and the unedited original, so the disclosure link has somewhere to point without you rebuilding an archive later.
Virtual staging runs from $5 per photo and AI photo enhancement from $1 per photo. Exposure, white balance, and lens correction are part of standard processing on every shoot, sit inside the statutory carve-out, and are not disclosable edits.
Want the staged and unstaged pair delivered together by default? Call (321) 800-5294.