(Iowa Capital Dispatch-Robin Opsahl)
(Des Moines) Iowa Attorney General Brenna Bird joined an amicus brief Monday supporting a Tennessee law that requires social media companies to use age verification software. Social media companies are challenging the law.
Tennessee’s 2024 Protecting Children from Social Media Act requires users to verify that they are 18 years or older or get permission from their parent or guardian to make an account on a social media platform. For minors’ accounts, the law requires social media companies provide parents access to monitor the child’s activity and messages, as well as the ability to set time restrictions or revoke access.
NetChoice, a trade association including Meta, the owner of Facebook and Instagram, and other social media platforms including X and Reddit, filed a suit challenging the Tennessee law in October 2024. In a news release, Paul Taske, associate director of the NetChoice Litigation Center, said the state law “violates free speech rights and jeopardizes the cybersecurity of minors and adults by creating a honeypot of sensitive information for hackers.”
“NetChoice is suing to defend free speech online, prevent big government from compromising data security, and protect parents’ rights to make decisions for their families,” Taske said in a statement. “… Not only does this violate the First Amendment, but it also endangers the security of all Tennesseans, particularly children by creating a data target for hackers and criminals.”
A U.S. District court denied the request from NetChoice for a preliminary injunction to block the law from enforcement. The organization challenged this decision with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit, submitting its opening brief in September.
Tennessee Attorney General Jonathan Skrmetti, a Republican, argued in a brief submitted to the appeals court earlier in October the law does not abridge any free speech rights, but provides protection for minors online.
“The law does not control what anyone can say or not say online,” Skrmetti said in a statement. “The harms social media causes kids are well-documented. Regardless of how much time and money Big Tech spends fighting against meaningful parental tools, Tennessee will continue to look out for our kids and their parents.”
Bird joined a coalition of 34 states and Washington, D.C. in filing a brief, led by Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier, to support the law. The filing argues social media platforms are “knowingly harming children,” citing studies that have found mental health issues like anxiety, depression and eating disorders are linked with higher social media usage among adolescents.
Bird said she joined the brief in order to help protect children from harms caused by social media.
“Prohibiting companies from profiting off the exploitation of our kids’ mental health is common sense, and it’s the right thing to do,” Bird said in a statement. “Health and safety standards are not unreasonable; they are essential. I’ll continue fighting to protect kids from exploitation.”
NetChoice has succeeded in blocking similar age verification laws through court challenges in states including Ohio and Arkansas.
Iowa lawmakers considered a bill in 2025 to require parental consent for minors to create social media accounts, with parents allowed to revoke access at any time. While there was support in a subcommittee meeting from legislators for a measure giving parents more oversight of their children’s accounts, there were concerns about social media companies’ collection of personal data collection that would be required to implement such a measure.
