US Supreme Court clears path for Texas to enforce app age verification law

Summary

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 to it plays out in the lower courts. The state’s Solicitor General William Peterson is arguing 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. But 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 app store operators Apple and Google. But in June, a federal appeals court allowed the law to take effect while the legal battle continued, saying that Texas has a “substantial, if not compelling, interest in protecting children, and parents need to have the necessary information to make informed choices affecting their children’s upbringing.” On Monday, the Supreme Court declined to intervene, leaving the appeals court’s decision in place. The decision comes a year after the Supreme Court upheld a separate Texas law requiring age verification for pornographic websites, rejecting arguments from the adult entertainment industry that the measure violated adults’ First Amendment rights.