U.S. District Judge Eli Richardson denied a motion for a preliminary injunction filed by NetChoice, a trade association representing online businesses, in its case challenging a Tennessee law that requires minors to obtain parental consent before downloading social media applications.
Last year, NetChoice sued the State of Tennessee after Governor Bill Lee signed the Protecting Children from Social Media Act into law, which requires social media companies to “verify the age of an individual who attempts to become an account holder.”
The lawsuit was filed in the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Tennessee on October 3, 2024.
NetCoice argued that the law violates the First Amendment by “conditioning Tennesseans’ access to vast amounts of protected speech on handing over their sensitive, personal data” and “harms the security of Tennessee internet users, especially children, by requiring them to surrender sensitive, personal information and creates a new target for hackers and other criminals to exploit.”
The organization said it believes the law “usurps the parental role” of controlling a family’s online presence and instead “seizes it for the government.”
NetChoice filed a motion for a preliminary injunction, asking the court to halt the Tennessee Attorney General’s enforcement of the law while the case proceeds through the court system. Richardson denied this motion in Wednesday’s ruling.
NetChoice previously filed for a temporary restraining order with similar goals, which the court previously denied in February.
Wednesday’s ruling by the court allows Tennessee to continue enforcing the law, which went into effect on January 1, while the lawsuit proceeds.
Paul Taske, NetChoice associate director of Litigation, said the organization was “disappointed” by the judge’s ruling.
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Kaitlin Housler is a reporter at The Tennessee Star and The Star News Network. Follow Kaitlin on X / Twitter.
Good, social media is just another stop on the road to hell.