State Senate: Republican majority
State House: Republican majority
Governor: Bill Lee (R)
Attorney General: Jonathan Skrmetti (R)
Summary:
Like much of the American South, Tennessee’s state government is firmly controlled by Republicans. Its House and Senate both feature Republican supermajorities, and Governor Bill Lee and Attorney General Jonathan Skrmetti have led the charge on many conservative causes, both in and outside the state. Motivated by covid, gender ideology, and gun-related censorship efforts from the Biden Administration, blue states, and social media companies, Tennessee Republicans have introduced legislation and joined lawsuits protecting online speech in those areas.
Large Republican majorities in both chambers have considered over a dozen relevant bills over the past few years, including measures regulating generative-AI, children’s access to social media and websites with adult content, limiting social media censorship, and to prohibit financial institutions operating in Tennessee from discriminating in their provision of services based on a customer’s exercise of religion, speech, and several other categories.
Recently enacted laws include SB2668/HB2163, which specifies that for the purposes of offenses involving the sexual exploitation of children, the term “material” includes computer-generated images created, adapted, or modified by artificial intelligence. The Protecting Children from Social Media Act will require age verification for social media, and provides that if the individual is a minor, the social media company must verify the “express parental consent” for the minor to become an account holder. Passed in 2022 was SB 2290/ HB 2670, which prohibits a public institution of higher education from conducting any mandatory training of students or employees if the training includes one or more divisive concepts and prohibits discrimination if the students or employees assent to one or more divisive concepts. It also prohibits the institutions from requiring students or employees to reveal or endorse a specific ideology or political viewpoint to be eligible for hiring, tenure, promotion, or graduation.
Meanwhile, Tennessee Attorney General Jonathan Skrmetti led a coalition of state attorneys general demanding U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland respect the First Amendment rights of people who criticize irreversible transgender treatments for minors. He has also joined several multi-state coalitions of Republican AGs on various speech-related issues.
Key Legislators:
- Sen. Mike Bell [R], Sen. Jeff Yarbro [D], Sen. Jack Johnson [R], and Sen. Becky Massey [R], Sen. Bo Watson [R]
- Rep. Cameron Sexton [R], Rep. Dennis Powers [R], Rep. William Lamberth [R], and Rep. Patsy Hazlewood [R]
Legislative Activity:
SB 111/HB 682: These companion bills would generally prohibit a social media platform from intentionally deplatforming or shadow banning a user if the basis of such action is rooted in political ideology, viewpoint discrimination, personal animus, or discrimination because of race, creed, color, religion, sex, age, or national origin. The general prohibition does not apply to actions that a social media platform takes to restrict access to, or the availability of, material that the social media platform considers to be obscene, lewd, lascivious, filthy, excessively violent, harassing, or otherwise objectionable, regardless of whether the material is constitutionally protected. As an enforcement mechanism, the bills would require an operator of a social media platform with Tennessee users to annually obtain a certificate of public convenience and necessity as a social media common carrier from the Tennessee Public Utility Commission. They also authorize a platform user to sue the platform operator for actual damages, punitive damages, equitable relief, and costs and reasonable attorney fees if a platform has violated the prohibition against deplatforming or shadow banning. Introduced in January 2023 by Rep. Dennis Powers [R], Sen. Bo Watson [R] and Sen. Janice Bowling [R] was voted favorably out of the Senate committee in March 2023 but has not progressed since.
HB 1528: On January 31, 2023, Rep. Paul Sherrell [R] introduced the “Social Media Accountable Censorship Act.” This bill makes the owner or operator of a social media website who contracts with Tennessee users subject to a private right of action by the user if the social media website intentionally deletes or censors the user’s religious or political speech or uses an algorithm to disfavor or censure the user’s religious or political speech. This bill also permits the attorney general to bring a civil cause of action on behalf of a user whose religious speech or political speech has been censored by a social media website. This bill did not receive any co-sponsors and has not progressed since being assigned to the Civil Justice Subcommittee in February 2023.
SB 2560/HB 2669: On January 31 2024, Sen. Brent Taylor [R] and Rep. David Hawk [R] introduced the “Equity in Financial Services Act”, a pair of companion bills to prohibit financial institutions operating in Tennessee from discriminating in their provision of services based on a customer’s exercise of religion, speech, and several other categories. These bills authorize a customer to request a written statement of specific reasons within 90 days if a financial institution refuses to provide, restricts, or terminates service to the customer. They also authorize the aggrieved party to initiate a civil action for injunctive relief, including an application for a permanent or temporary injunction, restraining order, or other order as necessary to enforce this bill whenever a financial institution has engaged in an act or practice prohibited by this bill. Neither bill has progressed since their committee referrals.
SB 1496/HB 1235: In early 2023, Sen. London Lamar [D], Rep. Justin Jones [D] and Rep. G.A. Hardaway [D] introduced companion bills that would prohibit law enforcement agencies from:
(1) Engaging in law enforcement activities that interfere with a person’s rights protected by the First Amendment of the United States Constitution; (2) Engaging in First Amendment-related intelligence or intercepting, recording, transcribing, or otherwise interfering with a communication by means of electronic surveillance for the purpose of First Amendment-related intelligence. However, a law enforcement agency may view information posted to social media for legitimate law enforcement purposes so long as the agency does not improperly catalog and disseminate that information; or (3) Maintaining personal information about a person for the purpose of First Amendment-related intelligence unless the information is collected in the course of a lawful investigation of criminal conduct and is relevant to such investigation.
SB 2057/HB 2185: Requires political advertisements that are created in whole or in part by artificial intelligence to include certain disclaimers; requires materially deceptive media disseminated for purposes of a political campaign to include certain disclaimers; establishes criminal penalties and the right to injunctive relief for violations. Introduced by Sen. Jeff Yarbro [D] and Rep. Caleb Hemmer [D] in Jan. 2024 but have not progressed.
SB 2290/ HB 2670 (Signed into Law) (2022): Prohibits a public institution of higher education (institution) from conducting any mandatory training of students or employees if the training includes one or more divisive concepts and prohibits discrimination if the students or employees assent to one or more divisive concept. Prohibits the institutions from requiring students or employees to reveal or endorse a specific ideology or political viewpoint to be eligible for hiring, tenure, promotion, or graduation. Prohibits the institutions from using state-appropriated funds to incentivize, beyond payment of regular salary or other regular compensation, a faculty member to incorporate one or more divisive concepts into academic formula. Introduced by Sen. Mike Bell [R] and Rep. Cameron Sexton [R] in Feb. 2022, passed both chambers largely along party lines, and signed into law on April 8, 2022.
SB 2460/ HB 2340: Prohibits a person or entity from altering and disseminating to the public an image, audio recording, or video recording that has been manipulated with synthetic media in a communication that is knowingly distributed publicly with the intent to malign, slander, defame, or otherwise intentionally mislead the public and damage the reputation of the individual. Defines synthetic media. Establishes a violation of such is an unfair and deceptive act or practice under the Consumer Protection Act of 1977. Authorizes an individual to seek injunctive relief and other general and special damages against the person or entity that published the synthetic media. Introduced by Sen. Raumesh Akbari [D] and Rep. Justin Pearson [D] in March 2024 but has not progressed.
SB 2003/ HB 2030: Expands the offense of unlawful exposure to include the distribution of images of an identifiable person created or modified by means of a computer software program, artificial intelligence application, or other digital editing tools. Clarifies, for the purposes of sexual exploitation of children offenses, that the term “material” includes computer-generated images created, adapted, or modified by artificial intelligence. Introduced by Sen. Jeff Yarbro [D] and Rep. Jason Powell [D] in Jan. 2024 but has not progressed.
HB 1891/ SB 2097 (Signed into Law): Creates the Protecting Children from Social Media Act; provides that a social media company shall verify the age of an individual who attempts to become an account holder, at the time the individual attempts to become an account holder; provides that if the individual is a minor, then the social media company must verify the express parental consent for the minor to become an account holder. Introduced by Rep. William Lamberth [R] and Sen. Jack Johnson [R] in Jan. 2024, passed both chambers nearly unanimously, and signed into law on May 2, 2024.
SB 1792/HB 1614 (Signed into Law): Enacts the “Protect Tennessee Minors Act”; requires an individual or commercial entity that publishes or distributes in this state a website that contains a substantial portion of material harmful to minors to perform reasonable age-verification methods to verify the age of individuals attempting to access the material; specifies that a violation of age-verification or data retention requirements is a Class C felony. Introduced by Sen. Becky Massey [R] and Rep. Patsy Hazlewood [R] in Jan. 2024, passed both chambers unanimously and signed into law on May 28, 2024.
Legal Actions:
AG Skrmetti Joins 26 States in Demanding Instagram Stop Monetizing Child Exploitation. On March 06, 2024, Attorney General Jonathan Skrmetti joined a coalition of 27 state attorneys general in sending a letter to Meta Platforms, Inc., (Meta) demanding that Instagram stop monetizing child exploitation content. “My office is already suing Meta for its harms to children’s mental health, and this latest report only adds to my concern about the risks Meta poses to Tennessee kids,” Attorney General Skrmetti said in a statement. “Meta needs to do a better job of using its vast resources to protect our vulnerable youth.”
This letter comes after Attorney General Skrmetti filed suit in October 2023 against Meta alleging that its Instagram platform causes mental health harms to its young users.
In addition to Attorney General Skrmetti, the attorneys general of the following states signed on to the letter: Arkansas, Alabama, Alaska, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, New Hampshire, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, South Carolina, South Dakota, Texas, Utah, Virginia, West Virginia, and Wyoming.
Letter to US Attorney General Merrick Garland Demanding U.S. Department of Justice Respect Free Speech Rights of Critics of Irreversible Pediatric Transgender Procedures. On October 2, 2022, Tennessee Attorney General Jonathan Skrmetti announced that he was leading a coalition of 13 state attorneys general in a letter demanding U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland respect the First Amendment rights of people who criticize irreversible transgender treatments for minors. The thirteen attorneys general wrote in response to a letter Garland received from several medical organizations which called for investigations and prosecution of those who criticize the medical establishment’s current treatment of adolescent gender issues. Specifically, the organizations called for the prosecution and social media censoring of not just those who commit or threaten violence against clinics, but also against those who “provoke” such threats. The letter argues that the best way to ensure the best health outcomes for children is to permit criticism of current practices. The multi-state coalition concludes by demanding that Attorney General Garland “stand down and allow the national conversation to continue.”
In addition to Tennessee, the signatories comprise the attorneys general of Arkansas, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Montana, Nebraska, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Texas, and West Virginia. Key quote: “A concerted effort by government and industry to suppress speech violates America’s most fundamental principles.”
Tennessee Joins Multi-State Coalition in Defending National Rifle Association in Suit Against New York Department of Finance. In January 2024, Attorney General Skrmetti joined a coalition of 23 attorneys general and the Arizona Legislature led by Montana AG Austin Knudsen in filing an amicus brief in support of the National Rifle Association’s case against a New York state official who impeded on the organization’s First Amendment right to free speech. The case has implications for any organization that engages in political speech or activity. The attorneys general asked the Supreme Court to reverse a U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit ruling giving officials license to stifle their political opponents’ protected speech by financially crippling them.
The Supreme Court decided to hear the case against Maria Vullo, the former superintendent of New York’s Department of Financial Services (DFS). Vullo, who had regulatory authority over financial institutions in the state, engaged in a politically motivated campaign against the financial institutions doing business with the NRA but steered clear of any explicit threats. However, the financial institutions got the message to “drop the NRA or else,” the attorneys general wrote.
The case was argued in front of the Supreme Court on March 18, 2024. On May 30, 2024, SCOTUS held that “The NRA plausibly alleged that the respondent violated the First Amendment by coercing regulated entities to terminate their business relationships with the NRA in order to punish or suppress gun-promotion advocacy,” overturned the 2nd Circuit ruling, and remanded the case.
Amicus Curiae in Murthy v Missouri. Skrmetti has also joined a group of 15 Republican AGs in amicus curiae brief, led by the Montana Attorney General to the Supreme Court supporting the Missouri Attorney General’s case against the Biden Administration for coordinating with social media companies to censor critics of the covid response and vaccines. The case was argued before the Supreme Court on March 18, 2024 and decided against the plaintiffs in June 2024.
