NASHVILLE, Tenn. — A court this week denied NetChoice’s request for a preliminary injunction against Tennessee’s age verification law. Tennessee’s law conditions its citizens’ access to vast amounts of protected speech online on forking over their sensitive, personal data. In its opinion denying the preliminary injunction, the District Court did not address the First Amendment issues in the case at all.
“NetChoice is disappointed in this ruling, and we will consider all available options to defend free expression and free enterprise online,” said Paul Taske, NetChoice Associate Director of Litigation. “We remain confident the law will ultimately be struck down. It is a fundamental threat to Americans’ free speech.”
Taske continued: “As NetChoice has seen in other states from Arkansas to Ohio, Mississippi, California, Florida, Texas and Utah, when governments mandate age verification to access lawful online speech, they violate the Constitution, jeopardize privacy and usurp parental authority. We’re confident Tennessee’s law will meet the same fate.”
Parents and guardians—not politicians—should have authority over their children.
Top Takeaways of NetChoice v. Skrmetti:
- Tennessee’s HB 1891 violates the First Amendment because it conditions Tennesseans’ access to vast amounts of protected speech on handing over their sensitive, personal data.
- It 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.
- Parents and guardians are best situated to control their family’s online presence. But HB 1891 usurps the parental role and seizes it for the government.
Read the opinion here. Find full case resources for NetChoice v. Skrmetti here.
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