District Court Declines to Block Tennessee Age-Verification Law
A federal court on Wednesday declined to block a Tennessee law requiring that social media companies verify the age of account holders and gain parental consent from users younger than 18 before they can open accounts.
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In case 24-01191, the U.S. District Court for Middle Tennessee ruled that NetChoice hadn't established the requirements needed to block the law, HB-1891. The trade association had argued the measure violates the First Amendment and other privacy measures (see 2501170070).
“Specifically, Plaintiff has failed to demonstrate that it (or indeed anyone) will suffer irreparable harm if the preliminary injunction is not granted,” said the court in its memorandum. “The Act has now been in effect since January 1 of this year and yet the record does not reflect that an enforcement action has been instituted or even threatened.” While “the Court can certainly appreciate that (and why) Plaintiff’s members may have some apprehension over some potential enforcement action at some point in the future … that is insufficient.”
In an emailed statement Friday, Paul Taske, NetChoice's associate director of litigation, said, “We remain confident the law will ultimately be struck down. It is a fundamental threat to Americans’ free speech.”
Taske cited other states, like Florida (see 2506040049), Arkansas (see 2504020033), Ohio (see 2504180031) and Mississippi (see 2506180051) -- the last of which was cited in a document of supplemental authority just before the ruling on Wednesday -- where courts have blocked age-verification laws. “When governments mandate age verification to access lawful online speech, they violate the Constitution, jeopardize privacy and usurp parental authority,” he said. “We’re confident Tennessee’s law will meet the same fate.”
Despite these examples, Tennessee Attorney General Jonathan Skrmetti (R) has argued they don't apply (see 2506170028, 2505010041 and 2504150030).