Tennessee Attorney General Jonathan Skrmetti filed a brief in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit defending a state law requiring minors to have 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 law also grants parents the right to supervise their child’s social media use, requiring social media platforms to provide tools that enable parents to monitor and manage their child’s account.
NetChoice, a trade association, represents tech giants like Google, Meta, Pinterest, Snapchat, and X.
The lawsuit was filed in the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Tennessee on October 3, 2024.
In June, U.S. District Judge Eli Richardson denied a motion for a preliminary injunction filed by NetChoice in its challenge against the Tennessee law, allowing the law to be enforced while the case proceeds through the court system.
On September 3, NetChoice appealed Richardson’s ruling denying its request for a preliminary injunction to the U.S. Court of Appeals.
In an 87-page brief filed last week, Skrmetti argued the federal district court correctly rejected NetChoice’s demand for emergency relief from the law.
Skrmetti countered NetChoice’s argument that the law violates the First Amendment, arguing that the law regulates harmful conduct, not speech, and therefore does not trigger strict constitutional scrutiny.
Instead, Skrmetti stated the law should be reviewed under a rational-basis standard, or at most, intermediate scrutiny, since it does not regulate content or prohibit anyone from accessing speech.
In addition to arguing NetChoice lacks standing to bring the case, Skrmetti said the district court acted appropriately in denying the plaintiff’s request for immediate, emergency relief, while leaving the door open for future legal challenges if enforcement begins, considering no enforcement of the law has occurred yet.
“Tennessee’s law requires social media companies to implement common-sense features that let parents protect their kids. The law does not control what anyone can say or not say online,” Skrmetti said in a statement.
“The harms social media causes kids are well documented. Regardless of how much time and money Big Tech spends fighting against meaningful parental tools, Tennessee will continue to look out for our kids and their parents,” he added.
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Kaitlin Housler is a reporter at The Tennessee Star and The Star News Network. Follow Kaitlin on X / Twitter.
