A Tennessee federal district court has blocked the implementation of the Protect Tennessee Minors Act, an age-verification law that was slated to take effect on January 1, 2025. The ruling came after a motion for a preliminary injunction filed by the Free Speech Coalition (FSC), which challenged the law as unconstitutional.

The law sought to impose strict criminal penalties on website operators for failing to verify the ages of users accessing content deemed “harmful to minors,” including content as innocuous as discussions of sexual health or the depiction of a human nipple. Chief United States District Court Judge Sheryl H. Lipman granted the injunction, emphasizing the law’s potential to infringe on adults’ First Amendment rights.

“The legislature has a compelling interest in protecting children from harmful content, and that is uncontested,” Judge Lipman wrote in her ruling. “But in its attempt to protect children, the State will unavoidably suppress a large amount of speech that adults have a First Amendment right to give and receive. The legislature’s goal, however admirable, does not allow it to undermine an adult’s freedom of speech. Neither the legislature nor this Court can turn a blind eye to the Constitution.”

The court’s decision prevents the law from being enforced while the case moves forward, which significantly blows Tennessee’s efforts to mandate age verification mechanisms on websites.

Free Speech Coalition Executive Director Alison Boden praised the ruling. “We applaud the Court’s decision,” Boden said. “This is a deeply flawed law that put website operators at risk of criminal prosecution for something as trivial as a mention of the human nipple. I cannot express enough gratitude to our legal team, especially Gill Sperlein, who flew to Tennessee on the eve of the Christmas holiday to argue this case. These victories come with long hours and hard work and can only be achieved through the financial support of our members.”

FSC has also filed challenges to similar laws in several states, including Louisiana, Texas, Utah, Indiana, Montana, and Florida. Notably, the Supreme Court is set to hear arguments in Free Speech Coalition v. Paxton, a case targeting Texas’s age-verification law, on January 15, 2025.

The Protect Tennessee Minors Act was part of a broader wave of state-level legislation aiming to regulate online content under the guise of protecting minors. However, such laws have drawn widespread criticism for their perceived overreach and lack of clarity, with opponents arguing that they stifle lawful free expression and impose unworkable compliance burdens on digital platforms.

The Tennessee law would have required websites hosting content classified as harmful to minors to verify the age of every user accessing the platform, with violations carrying severe penalties. Critics warned that such requirements could create privacy risks, deter platforms from hosting controversial yet legal content, and unfairly target small or independent websites unable to meet the law’s demands.

FSC was joined in the lawsuit by a coalition of co-plaintiffs, including adult content creator and educator MelRose Michaels, sex education platform O.school (Deep Technologies, Inc.), sexual wellness retailer Adam & Eve (PHE, Inc.), and the adult fan platform JustFor.Fans (JFF Publications, LLC).

The plaintiffs were represented by a legal team comprising Jeff Sandman of Webb Daniel Friedlander LLP, D. Gill Sperlein of the Law Office of D. Gill Sperlein, and Edward M. Bearman of the Law Office of Edward M. Bearman.

While the ruling is a significant victory for FSC and its allies, the broader battle over age verification laws and online content regulation is far from over.

The Supreme Court’s upcoming hearing on the Texas law could set a national precedent, potentially influencing the outcome of similar cases across the country.