Tennessee Enacts Social Media Age Verification and Parental Consent Law | Practical Law

Tennessee Enacts Social Media Age Verification and Parental Consent Law | Practical Law

Tennessee enacted the Protecting Children from Social Media Act, which protects Tennessee minors under 18 years of age by requiring parental consent to obtain a social media account, prohibiting social media platforms from retaining age verification data, and requiring covered platforms to provide parental supervision tools for minors' accounts.

Tennessee Enacts Social Media Age Verification and Parental Consent Law

Practical Law Legal Update w-043-2130 (Approx. 4 pages)

Tennessee Enacts Social Media Age Verification and Parental Consent Law

by Practical Law Data Privacy & Cybersecurity
Published on 03 May 2024 • Tennessee, USA (National/Federal)
Tennessee enacted the Protecting Children from Social Media Act, which protects Tennessee minors under 18 years of age by requiring parental consent to obtain a social media account, prohibiting social media platforms from retaining age verification data, and requiring covered platforms to provide parental supervision tools for minors' accounts.
On May 2, 2024, Tennessee Governor Bill Lee signed the Protecting Children from Social Media Act (HB 1891), which requires social media platforms to:
  • Verify the age of prospective account holders.
  • Prohibit minors under 18 years of age from obtaining an account without express parental consent.
  • Allow parents to revoke their consent for minors' social media accounts.
  • Provide parental supervision tools for minors' social media accounts, including a method for parents to view privacy settings.
HB 1891 prohibits social media platforms and third parties from retaining any personally identifiable information used to verify age or parental consent.
HB 1891 applies to interactive computer services that provide a social media platform, defined as a website or internet application that:
  • Allows an individual to obtain an account.
  • Enables account holders to interact with other account holders and users through posts.
Among other things, the law's definition of social media platform excludes:
  • Email services.
  • Services, apps, or websites that consist primarily of service-selected content that is not generated by account holders, if its user interaction features are incidental to, directly related to, or dependent on the preselected content.
  • Services, apps, or websites, wherein user interactivity is primarily used for or limited to certain purposes as specified, such as online shopping, technical support, career development opportunities, or peer-to-peer payment transactions.
The Tennessee Attorney General has the authority to enforce the Protecting Children from Social Media Act under state consumer protection law and seek injunctive relief, restitution, civil penalties of up to $1,000 per violation, attorneys fees, costs, and more for knowing and persistent violations.
The law takes effect January 1, 2025.