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

Parents must approve app downloads for minors as legal fight over Texas age verification law continues.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.Recommended Stories list of 4 itemslist 1 of 4US Supreme Court upholds birthright citizenship: Who wins, who loses?list 2 of 4US Supreme Court hands wealthy donors more sway with latest decisionlist 3 of 4US judge sides with NAACP over proposed mail-in ballot restrictionslist 4 of 4At 250, America is still deciding who belongsend of listTexas 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 Texas" class="entity-link entity-organization" data-entity-id="159979" data-entity-type="organization">Students Engaged in Advancing Texas, and the Computer & Communications Industry Association, whose members include app store operators 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 Computer & Communications Industry Association wrote. “The Texas law does exactly that — for every mobile app on every mobile phone.”