This bill enacts the "Protect Tennessee Minors Act," as described below.
This bill provides that an individual or commercial entity that publishes or distributes in this state a website that contains 10 percent or more of total content on a website that is content harmful to minors commits a Class C felony and is liable if they do not take the following action:
(1) Verify, using a reasonable age-verification method, the age of each active user attempting to access its website; or
(2) Verify, using a reasonable age-verification method, the age of an active user attempting to access its website again after completion of an age-verified session. This bill defines an "age-verified session" as either the session in which the active user's age was verified using a reasonable age-verification method or 60 minutes from the time the active user's age was verified using a reasonable age-verification method, whichever is less.
A "reasonable age-verification method" under this bill means the following means of establishing the age of the person attempting to view content harmful to minors, implemented in a manner not easily bypassed:
(1) The matching of a photograph of the active user taken between the attempt to view and the viewing of content harmful to minors, using the device by which the attempt to view content harmful to minors is being made, to the photograph on a valid form of identification issued by a state of the United States; or
(2) A commercially reasonable method relying on public or private transactional data to verify that the age of the person attempting to access the information is at least 18 or older.
Similarly, an individual or commercial entity that is found to have violated the above provision is liable to an individual for damages resulting from a minor's accessing the content harmful to minors, including court costs and reasonable attorney fees as ordered by the court.
Under present law, a Class C felony is punishable by a term of imprisonment not less than three years but no more than 15 years, and a jury is authorized to assess a fine no more than $10,000.
RETENTION OF DATA AND INFORMATION
This bill provides that a website owner, commercial entity, or third party that executes a required age-verification method commits a Class C felony if they do not retain at least seven years of historical anonymized age-verification data; and retain any personally identifying information of the active user after access to the content that was harmful to minors was granted. This bill defines "anonymized age-verification data" as data sufficient to prove a reasonable age-verification method was used to verify the age of the active user as 18 or older and dissociated with any personally identifying information. At a minimum, anonymized age-verification data must include architectural diagrams illustrating the technological assets and logical processes by which the reasonable age-verification method is accomplished and data demonstrating a volume of reasonable age-verification method executions consistent with the overall volume of visits to the website.
Similarly, this bill provides that an individual or commercial entity that is found to have knowingly retained personally identifying information of an active user after access was granted to them is liable to the active user for damages resulting from retention of the identifying information, including court costs and reasonable attorney fees as ordered by the court.
EXEMPTIONS
This bill does not apply to a bona fide news or public interest broadcast, website video, report, or event and does not affect the rights of any news-gathering organizations. This bill defines a "news-gathering organization" as the following:
(1) An employee of a newspaper, news publication, or other source of current news of general, public interest, while operating as an employee as provided in this bill, who can provide documentation of such employment with the newspaper, news publication, or news source; or
(2) An employee of a radio broadcast station, television broadcast station, cable television operator, or wire service while operating as an employee as provided in this bill, who can provide documentation of such employment.
Additionally, this bill clarifies that an internet service provider, search engine, or cloud service provider does not violate this bill solely for providing access or connection to or from a website or other information or content on the internet or a facility, system, or network not under the provider's control to the extent they are not responsible for the creation of the content of the communication that constitutes content harmful to minors.
It is not a violation of this bill to distribute, sell, display, or expose material, the distribution, sale, display, or exposure of which is otherwise permitted by law.
CONTENT HARMFUL TO MINORS
The following constitutes "content harmful to minors" under this bill when, taken as a whole, they lack serious literary, artistic, political, or scientific value for minors:
(1) Text, audio, imagery, or video the average person, applying contemporary community standards and taking the material as a whole and with respect to minors of any age, would find sexually explicit and harmful or inappropriate for minors or designed to appeal to or pander to the prurient interest; or
(2) Text, audio, imagery, or video that exploits, is devoted to, or principally consists of an actual, simulated, or animated display or depiction of specific parts of a body or acts as described in the bill.
ENFORCEMENT
This bill provides that the department of safety is responsible for overseeing and enforcing this bill.
ON APRIL 9, 2024, THE SENATE ADOPTED AMENDMENT #2 AND PASSED SENATE BILL 1792, AS AMENDED.
AMENDMENT #2 makes the following changes:
(1) Changes the definition of "substantial portion," as used in the bill, from 10 percent or more of the total amount of data available on a website to 33 1/3 percent or more of the total amount of data available on a website;
(2) Changes the entity responsible for enforcement of the bill from the department of safety to the attorney general, who is authorized to bring any appropriate action or proceeding in a court of competent jurisdiction against a commercial entity that fails to comply with the bill; and
(3) Changes the effective date to January 1, 2025.