Someone shared private, intimate photos of you. You're panicking. You called the police, and they told you there was nothing they could do. For years in Tennessee, that was true, at least in civil court. Not anymore.
A new law took effect on July 1, 2026. You can now sue someone who shares your intimate images without your permission. Up to $150,000 in damages, no need to prove financial loss. Your attorney's fees covered. A court order to make it stop. And you don't have to put your name on public record to do it. If you're looking for a personal injury lawyer in Knoxville, TN because this happened to you, here's the breakdown.
What Changed on July 1, 2026?
Tennessee's had a criminal law against this since 2016. Sharing someone's intimate images to hurt them has been a Class A misdemeanor for years. But criminal charges don't put money in your pocket. They don't stop the images from spreading. And whether anything even happens depends on a prosecutor deciding to bother.
2026 finally fixed that. Public Chapter 712 added a new piece to Tennessee's unlawful exposure statute, giving you the right to sue on your own, for your own damages, without waiting on the state to act. Tenn. Code Ann. § 39-17-318
One catch worth knowing: this only covers what happens on or after July 1, 2026. Something that happened before that date won't qualify for this claim, though you might have other options. A personal injury lawyer in Knoxville, TN can help you figure out where you stand.
What Does the Law Actually Cover?
Photos, videos, social posts, anything showing intimate parts of an identifiable person, or someone identifiable in sexually explicit conduct. Three things tend to catch people off guard.
It doesn't have to hit the internet. Handing someone printed photos at their door counts. Showing images on your phone counts. Texting them, sharing a cloud link, even just leaving them somewhere visible, all of it counts.
Your face doesn't even have to be in the shot. If you're identifiable some other way, maybe someone told the recipient who you are, or wrote your name on it, that's enough.
And it doesn't matter who actually shared it. Maybe it wasn't the person you originally sent it to. If someone got it secondhand, off an old phone, a shared laptop, a cloud account, they're still on the hook. The original deal was that it stayed private. They broke that.
"But I Sent the Photo Voluntarily." Does That End It?
Nope. The law is clear on this.
Agreeing to be photographed isn't the same as agreeing to have it shared. Two totally different things.
And there's a real standard for what counts as consent to share. It has to be written down, in plain language, signed knowingly, describing the actual image. So the old "well she sent it to him, what did she expect" argument? Doesn't fly in Tennessee anymore.
What Can You Recover?
Real money, for one. Actual damages, including emotional distress, or you can skip proving all that and just take $150,000 flat. That second option is huge, because you don't have to put a number on your suffering, and you don't have to hand over your medical records to prove it.
You can also go after any money the other person made off the images, plus punitive damages, plus your attorney's fees. And you can get the court to order them to stop, immediately if needed.
Honestly, for most people, stopping it matters more than the money. That's usually priority one, and the law lets courts move fast on that.
Can I Bring This Case Without My Name Becoming Public?
Often, yes. Most people have no clue this is even possible.
The law lets you sue under a fake name if the court allows it, and it lets the whole thing happen privately instead of in open court. Tennessee judges haven't historically loved anonymous lawsuits, but lawmakers built that option right into this statute.
No lawyer can promise a judge will say yes in your specific case. But the fear of "if I sue, everyone will see the exact thing I'm trying to hide"? Lawmakers took that seriously here.
What About AI Images and Deepfakes? That's a Different Law.
This confuses everyone, so let's clear it up.
Tennessee actually has two laws. One's the Preventing Deepfake Images Act from 2025, covering AI-generated or digitally faked images. Same $150,000 damages, plus criminal penalties. The other is the 2026 law we're talking about here, and it's for real photos and videos, not fakes.
Since the deepfake law got more press first, people searching online often find that one, see "digitally altered," think it doesn't apply to them, and give up. If your photos are real, not AI-made, the 2026 law is yours.
There's also a federal option that's existed since 2022 for the same kind of thing. Which law actually applies to you, maybe more than one, depends on your exact situation. Talk to a personal injury lawyer in Knoxville, TN instead of guessing.
What To Do If This Is Happening to You
Don't delete anything. Messages, images, posts, even the ones that make your stomach turn. Screenshot everything. Write down dates, times, who got what.
Get it all down on paper while it's fresh: who has copies, who saw them, what was said. Move fast, too, because there are deadlines on these claims, and some related ones, especially around lies told alongside the images, have very short windows in Tennessee. Waiting can cost you your shot.
And one more thing: never email intimate images to a law firm. Call first, always, and ask how to send anything safely.
Working With Butler, Vines and Babb
We've been trying and appealing civil cases in Tennessee since 1973, including defamation and privacy cases. This particular law is brand new, barely two months old, and no appellate court has ruled on it yet. Anyone who tells you they've "handled tons of these" isn't being honest with you.
What we can tell you: we've read this law closely, we understand how it fits with the deepfake statute and the federal option, and we are committed to handling these cases with the discretion they need. If you're weighing whether you have a claim and want a personal injury lawyer in Knoxville, TN who actually takes this seriously, reach out. It costs nothing, and it stays confidential.
