The US Supreme Court has cleared the way for Texas to begin enforcing a law that requires app stores to verify users' ages and obtain parental consent before minors can download apps or make in-app purchases, while a legal challenge continues.
The law, known as the App Store Accountability Act, was signed by Republican Governor Greg Abbott in 2025. It requires app store accounts belonging to anyone under 18 to be linked to a parent or guardian. Before a child or teenager can download any app, parents must be notified of its age rating and approve the download.
Texas urged the court to allow the law to continue to be enforced while a constitutional challenge plays out. The state's Solicitor General William Peterson argued that “the modern digital world is different” from the physical world and that the law was needed since children can access “any conceivable content” online without their parents’ knowledge.
Critics say the law goes much further than protecting children. The challenge was brought by two students, a student advocacy group called Students Engaged in Advancing Texas, and the Computer & Communications Industry Association, whose members include Apple and Google.
They argue the law violates the US Constitution's First Amendment protections for free speech by forcing app stores to verify users' ages before they can access online content. “No state has ever required its citizens to prove their age before reading a newspaper, entering a bookstore, or even accessing the internet,” the association wrote.
A federal judge who blocked the law in December compared it to requiring every bookstore to check the age of customers before letting them inside. But in June, a federal appeals court allowed the law to take effect, and the Supreme Court declined to intervene on Monday.
The decision comes a year after the Supreme Court upheld a separate Texas law requiring age verification for pornographic websites. The measure is part of a broader push in the US and elsewhere to give parents more oversight of children's online activity and limit the potential harms of social media.
Source: www.aljazeera.com