The Tennessee Senate voted unanimously on Tuesday to pass the Protect Tennessee Minors Act, which would require online websites that distribute “content harmful to minors” to implement age-verification methods to verify the age of users attempting to access the material.
The bill, SB 1792/HB 1614, passed the Senate by a 31-0 vote.
In addition to requiring online sites to verify users are over the age of 18, the bill would require the online sites to retain at least seven years of historical anonymized age-verification data and prohibit them from retaining any personally identifying information of the user after access to the content has been granted.
The bill would also allow online sites to be “liable to an individual for damages resulting from a minor accessing the content deemed harmful, including court costs and reasonable attorney fees.”
Violations of age-verification or data retention requirements would be classified under the bill as Class C felonies.
Statement of the Tennessee Faith and Freedom Coalition Board on State Senate Unanimous Passage of Senator Becky Duncan Massey’s Protect Tennessee Minors Act:
It comes as no surprise that @MasseyForSenate would shepherd such an important piece of legislation affecting children…
— Tennessee Faith & Freedom Coalition (@TNFaithFreedom) April 9, 2024
The Tennessee Faith and Freedom Coalition (TNFFC) applauded Tuesday’s passage of the bill and thanked the bill’s sponsor, State Senator Becky Massey (R-Knoxville), for spearheading the legislation.
“It comes as no surprise that Senator Becky Duncan Massey would shepherd such an important piece of legislation affecting children through our state senate and we are proud to work with such a strong leader for children on this bill. We are grateful for the unanimous vote to approve,” the TNFFC Board said in a statement. “Senator Massey is a leader in the fight to protect children against the rot that is pornography and that terrible gateway that it is to exploitation and child trafficking. Tennesseans should be proud of the legislative body of work that Senator Massey possesses, and this bill is just the latest example of her thoughtful and exemplary leadership.”
“Children currently cannot purchase pornography in stores like adults can, so this bill simply puts a real-world age verification requirement on a virtual medium. In essence, this bill is a modernization of current law in order to keep up with technology. We are eternally grateful to Senator Massey for the work she does every day to protect children. The safety and well-being of Tennessee’s children is always at the forefront of her mind,” the TNFFC Board added.
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Kaitlin Housler is a reporter at The Tennessee Star and The Star News Network. Follow Kaitlin on X / Twitter.
