Preliminary injunction granted December 30, 2024; stayed by the Sixth Circuit January 13, 2025; vacated November 4, 2025 after Paxton. Chief Judge Lipman denied the attorney general's motion to dismiss on September 15, 2026. The law is in force while the case continues.
Tennessee SB 1792 (Age Verification)
BadLawTN SB 1792
Tennessee, United StatesHigh threat
Tennessee, United StatesHigh threatIn force; challenge continues after motion to dismiss denied, September 2026
- Introduced
- Passed Senate
- Passed House
- Became Law
Stage 4 of 4: Became Law
Tennessee's adult-site age check, the rare one that makes a failed verification a felony.
Latest update
Court denied the attorney general's motion to dismiss; the challenge continues
Take action
Learn about the issue and how to make your position known.
Take action on this issueWhat it does
Tennessee's Protect Tennessee Minors Act makes any commercial site where at least a third of the content is harmful to minors verify every visitor is 18 before granting access. What sets it apart is the penalty: a violation is a Class C felony, each one, on top of a private right of action for parents and for people whose data was kept.
What’s at stake
Most states reach for fines or lawsuits; Tennessee reached for prison. Turning a missed age check into a felony is the hardest enforcement stance in the patchwork, and it raises the stakes for any operator deciding whether to serve the state at all.
Our take
Tennessee is the state that criminalized it, treating a failed age check like a felony offense. A federal judge blocked the law at the end of 2024, but the Sixth Circuit let it take force and then wiped out the injunction after Paxton, and it is one of the toughest adult-content statutes in the country.
Timeline
Court denied the attorney general's motion to dismiss; the challenge continuesLatest
Injunction bond released
Sixth Circuit vacated the preliminary injunction after Paxton and sent the case back
Sixth Circuit stayed the preliminary injunction, allowing enforcement
Statutory effective date; enforcement was then subject to the district court’s injunction
Federal judge blocked it
Signed into law
Sponsors
Sen. Becky Duncan Massey, Rep. Patsy Hazlewood
Votes
- Senate — Passed (31 to 0) · April 9, 2024
- House — Passed (96 to 0) · April 24, 2024
Legal challenges
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