Tennessee SB 1792 (Age Verification)

Tennessee, United StatesTN SB 1792Updated September 15, 2026

100%became law
Bad for your rightsLaw
  1. Introduced
  2. Passed Senate
  3. Passed House
  4. Became Law

In force; challenge continues after motion to dismiss denied, September 2026

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

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The bill

Read the full billOfficial bill record

Key facts

Where
Tennessee, United States
Bill number
TN SB 1792
Status
Law
Threat
High
Last update
September 15, 2026

Topics

Age VerificationDigital ID

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What 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

  1. Court denied the attorney general's motion to dismiss; the challenge continuesLatest

  2. Injunction bond released

  3. Sixth Circuit vacated the preliminary injunction after Paxton and sent the case back

  4. Sixth Circuit stayed the preliminary injunction, allowing enforcement

  5. Statutory effective date; enforcement was then subject to the district court’s injunction

  6. Federal judge blocked it

  7. Signed into law

The record

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

Free Speech Coalition v. Skrmetti

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.