Tenn. AG Says Ark. Court Decision Does Not Apply in Age-Verification Case
Tennessee Attorney General Jonathan Skrmetti (R) told a court Monday that the decision in NetChoice, LLC v. Griffin demonstrates the weakness of NetChoice's argument for a preliminary injunction against a law that requires age verification before accessing social media accounts. NetChoice urged the U.S. District Court for Middle Tennessee on April 1 to use the Griffin ruling (see 2504010044), to enjoin the law (see 2504020033).
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"Griffin relied on at least three conditions not present here," said Skrmetti in a letter. Tennessee showed "many plainly legitimate applications" of the law, which did not happen in the Arkansas (Griffin) case. The Arkansas law was also unconstitutional because it regulated entities depending on their purpose, whereas the Tennessee law regulates entities despite their purpose. Finally, "Griffin was a summary judgment decision, so NetChoice did not have to (as it does here) win all the equitable factors despite the law already being in effect."
Skrmetti also previously used the decision in CCIA & NetChoice v. Uthmeier to urge the court to deny NetChoice's call for a preliminary injunction (see 25031700061), to which NetChoice responded that Uthmeier had no bearing (see 2503180053). Case 24-01191 started in October when NetChoice sued the Tennessee attorney general over privacy and First Amendment concerns about HB-1891, legislation requiring social media companies to verify the age of account holders and gain parental consent before users younger than 18 opened accounts (see 2501170070).