The U.S. Supreme Court on July 7 declined to halt Texas from enforcing the Texas App Store Accountability Act, a state law requiring app stores and developers to verify users’ ages and obtain parental consent for children under 18. In a brief one-sentence order, the Court denied a request to pause the law’s enforcement while legal challenges continue in lower courts.
The law mandates that app stores like Apple and Google use “commercially reasonable methods” to determine users’ ages. It also requires minors’ accounts to be linked to a parent or guardian’s account, who must be notified of the app’s age rating and approve downloads or in-app purchases.
Plaintiffs, including the Computer & Communications Industry Association (CCIA) and Students Engaged in Advancing Texas (SEAT), argue the law violates the First Amendment by imposing government controls over protected speech and lawful information access. CCIA President and CEO Matt Schruers stated, “People should not have to turn over personal data to access the internet any more than they should show government identification to enter a bookstore.”
Attorneys for SEAT emphasized in a court filing that “Equity and the public interest support relief because protecting First Amendment rights — and parents’ rights to supervise their children as they see fit, not as the government tells them they should — is always in the public interest.”
Texas officials defend the law as a means to protect children from harmful content. "Parents deserve to know what their children are downloading and to have the ability to stop them from accessing harmful or inappropriate content," said Paxton last month.
The Supreme Court’s decision marks the latest development in ongoing disputes over the law, which became enforceable in May.
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