Judge blocks Texas app store age verification law

A federal judge blocked a Texas law requiring mobile app stores to verify users’ ages from taking effect on January 1st.

In an order granting a preliminary injunction on the Texas App Store Accountability Act (SB 2420), Judge Robert Pitman wrote that the statute “is akin to a law that would require every bookstore to verify the age of every customer at the door and, for minors, require parental consent before the child or teen could enter and again when they try to purchase a book.” Pitman has not yet ruled on the merits of the case, but his decision to grant the preliminary injunction means he believes its defenders are unlikely to prevail in court.

The Texas App Store Accountability Act is the first among a series of similar state laws to face a legal challenge, making the ruling especially significant, as Congress considers a version of the statute. The laws, versions of which also passed in Utah and Louisiana, aim to impose age verification standards at the app store level, making companies like Apple and Google responsible for transmitting signals about users’ ages to app developers to block users from age-inappropriate experiences. While the format has been developed and championed by parent advocates, it’s gotten a boost from lobbying by Meta and other tech platforms that support the model, like Snap and X.

https://www.theverge.com/news/849752/texas-app-store-accountability-act-age-verification-injunction