LOS ANGELES — Free Speech Coalition (FSC) Executive Director Alison Boden called Tennessee’s new age verification bill, signed into law by Republican Governor Bill Lee on Tuesday, “an attack not only on the adult industry but on the First Amendment rights of millions of people who engage with adult content online.”
SB 1792, Tennessee’s version of the age verification bills being sponsored around the country by anti-porn activists, goes into effect Jan. 1, 2025.
Boden told XBIZ that the legislation “goes further than almost any other bill that we’ve seen and directly criminalizes speech online, by making it a felony to operate, or seemingly even link to, a platform that does not perform age verification.”
Last month, FSC Director of Public Affairs Mike Stabile told XBIZ that SB 1792 is a “particularly bad” law because of its felony charge component.
“It also requires visitors to be re-verified every hour, and allows the database to keep the records for 30 days,” Stabile added, calling the law — and similar measures proposed in Ohio and Alabama — “grossly unconstitutional and dangerous.”
“They are meant to crush legal speech,” he added. “But if they’re not challenged, they will go into effect.”
In spite of these criticisms, SB 1792 was passed by the Tennessee legislature on April 24, on a unanimous bipartisan vote.