Tennessee’s taxpayer-funded Electronic Library is meant to help students learn, yet complaints allege exposure to harmful advertising and adult content. Parents and lawmakers now face urgent questions about oversight and accountability.
Picture this: Your child comes home from school, embarrassed and shaken. After a gentle nudge, they share that they stumbled across pornographic material while using the Tennessee Electronic Library (TEL), a taxpayer-funded “homework help”resource. You’re stunned. How could this happen on a site meant to be safe for kids? But when they show you, an ad with a link to a pornographic website pops up. According to Fight the New Drug, 46% of kids encounter porn online unexpectedly, and 30% face this during school hours—sometimes on school devices.
TEL, accessible at tntel.info, offers free access to over 50 Gale databases for Tennessee’s students, from public schools to homeschoolers. Our tax dollars—over $800,000 in 2024 alone—fund this platform. It’s marketed as a trusted tool for K-12 and college students, yet complaints dating back to 2020 reveal a darker side. Local groups have reported to the Secretary of State, State Library and other authorities that Gale’s databases may expose kids to harmful content, including ads for adult websites like PornHub, online gambling, vaping, and cannabis. Even worse, this content can slip past school firewalls meant to keep kids safe.
As parents, we trust schools and libraries to provide secure resources. But Gale’s business model, which prioritizes the marketing needs of its publishing and advertising partners, creates a conflict of interest. Despite Tennessee’s 2022 law (HB 2454:SB 2292) requiring vendors to certify that K-12 databases are free of harmful content, Gale’s contract—signed by Secretary of State Tre Hargett and State Librarian James Ritter—claims compliance. Yet, complaints persist, suggesting the system is failing our kids.
This isn’t just a Tennessee problem. As reported by the Wall Street Journal and the Washington Post, parents and lawmakers nationwide are demanding accountability from database vendors like Gale and EBSCO. To date, at least 16 states have introduced or passed laws to address this issue. In 2018, Gale admitted to a Virginia CBS affiliate that its curation needed improvement yet, ironically, defended its role in providing “an anonymous place for youth seeking to...understand their...curiosities...”, a weak excuse for exposing minors to harmful material. EBSCO, Gale’s competitor, faced similar criticism from the National Center on Sexual Exploitation, being named a leading facilitator of the sexual exploitation of women and children. Both companies seem to prioritize profits over student safety.
Adding to the concern, State Librarian James Ritter serves as President of the Chief Officers of State Library Agencies, which Gale and EBSCO sponsor. This raises questions about whether oversight is truly impartial. Despite years of complaints, Gale appears to have done little more than cherry-pick, leaving harmful content in its databases. Meanwhile, state leaders haven’t adequately informed parents or taxpayers about these risks—a breach of trust we can’t ignore. Our kids deserve better. Parents want to know that the resources used by their children are safe. Tennesseans should demand accountability by contacting Secretary of State Tre Hargett (Tre.Hargett@tnsos.gov, 615-741-2819) and state legislators. As one grandparent wisely said, “Public officials must serve with integrity, and when that trust is broken, they need to answer for it.” Let’s protect our children by ensuring TEL is a safe space for learning.
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