Law / United States / 
Tennessee
Protecting Children from Social Media Act (HB 1891/SB 2097, 2024 Tenn. Pub. Acts ch. 899)
Tenn. Code Ann. sections 47-18-5701 to 47-18-5706
In force since , under challenge in court.
A social media and minors rule binding private bodies.
- Private right of action
- No
- Age threshold
- 18
- Covered services
- Social media platforms as statutorily defined operating in Tennessee.
- How the hook was established
- express
- What makes it apply
- Data subject residence
- Verification methods
- Parental consent
- Audit expectation
- none
- Court action
A suit challenging this law is pending. No court has blocked it. Premium data
What it requires
- Applies to social media companies operating social media platforms, as the statute defines them, in Tennessee.
- Verify the age of prospective Tennessee account holders.no control in the NIST Privacy Framework
- Obtain express parental consent before a minor under 18 can create or keep an account.NIST Privacy FrameworkCT.PO-P1
- Let a parent revoke that consent.NIST Privacy FrameworkCT.PO-P1
- Give parents supervisory tools, including privacy settings visibility, daily time restrictions and mandatory breaks.NIST Privacy FrameworkCT.PO-P3
These lines are LexLint's reading of the law's text.
In the frameworks
- NIST Privacy Framework
- CT.PO-P1Policies, processes, and procedures for authorizing data processing (e.g., organizational decisions, individual consent), revoking authorizations, and maintaining authorizations are established and in place.
- CT.PO-P3Policies, processes, and procedures for enabling individuals’ data processing preferences and requests are established and in place.
Our reading of where this law's duties sit in each framework, and in the NIST Privacy Framework, line by line beside each duty above. It never says that running a control meets the law. How we read a framework against the law
Who enforces it
Enforcement body
Tennessee Attorney General
Litigation
- Court
- U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Tennessee, on remand from the Sixth Circuit
- Docket
- NetChoice, LLC v. Skrmetti, No. 3:24-cv-01191 (M.D. Tenn.); appeal No. 25-5660 (6th Cir.)
- Posture
- The district court denied a preliminary injunction on , finding no irreparable harm and without reaching the First Amendment merits. On the Sixth Circuit, by a divided panel, vacated that denial, holding that NetChoice's alleged harms meet the threshold requirement of irreparability, and remanded for further consideration of the motion without deciding whether the Act should be enjoined.
Settledness
NetChoice, LLC v. Skrmetti, No. 25-5660 (6th Cir. ), vacated the denial of a preliminary injunction against the Act and remanded for further consideration; it decided only the irreparable-harm factor.
- As of
- Under challenge
- Yes
- Open questions
- Does 'reasonably believed by a social media platform to be under eighteen (18) years of age' in Section 47-18-5702(4)(A) require a company to infer age from account signals, or only to act on an age it has verified under Section 47-18-5703(a)(1)?
- Does a service that mixes preselected content with account-holder posts fall within the exclusion of Section 47-18-5702(9)(B)(iii) for a service whose content 'consists primarily of content that is not generated by account holders'?
What it makes you log
Log retention
No period is stated and no window is allowed; the bar is on retaining the information at all.
- As of
- Basis
- Unspecified
- Prohibits retaining
- Personally identifying information that was used to verify age or parental consent, which neither the social media company nor a third party may retain
Logging duty
Section 47-18-5703 requires a social media company to verify the age of an individual who attempts to become an account holder and to verify express parental consent for a minor, and once verified the company is not required to reverify unless consent is revoked. It names no log, no record of the check, no retention period and no regulator access to a record. Subsection (c) bars the company and any third party from retaining the personally identifying information used to verify age or parental consent, and 47-18-5705 gives the Attorney General investigation powers in the manner of the Consumer Protection Act without naming records of the check.
- Kind
- None
- As of
What this law does
Requires social media companies to verify the age of prospective Tennessee account holders, obtain express parental consent before a minor under 18 can create or keep an account, let a parent revoke that consent, and provide parents supervisory tools including privacy settings visibility, daily time restrictions, and mandatory breaks.
When LexLint raises it
When your app profile says your app operates a social platform.
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