Tennessee Attorney General Stands Up for Parents against Big Tech’s Legal Challenge

Tennessee Attorney General Stands Up for Parents against Big Tech's Legal Challenge

NASHVILLE- On Friday, Tennessee Attorney General Jonathan Skrmetti filed a brief defending Tennessee's Protecting Children from Social Media Act, a common-sense law empowering parents to protect their children from social media's documented harms. The law requires social-media companies to verify a new user's age; obtain parental consent before allowing minors to create accounts; and allow parents to supervise, modify, and deactivate their child's account. NetChoice, a trade organization that represents tech giants like Google, Meta, Pinterest, Snapchat, and X, sued Tennessee in October 2024 seeking to enjoin the Act's basic protections.

The brief, filed in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit, argues that the federal district court correctly rejected NetChoice's demand for emergency relief from the State's child-protecting law.

"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," said Attorney General Skrmetti. "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."

The brief details how intentionally addictive platforms devastate children's well-being. Children's unmonitored access exposes them to threats like cyberbullying, sexual predators, and human traffickers lurking on these sites. Meanwhile, Big Tech resists the implementation of tools to address these harms. After all, tech giants "have little interest in developing tools to moderate minors' access to their platforms [because] fewer eyeballs mean less profits." Tennessee is proud to stand by parents and help them protect their kids online.

Read the brief.

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