politics
Texas Asks Supreme Court to Uphold App Store Age Verification Law
Texas officials filed a response urging the Supreme Court to deny emergency petitions that seek to block enforcement of a state law requiring app stores to verify user ages and obtain parental consent for minors. The petitions were submitted by two groups challenging the measure on First Amendment grounds.
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Texas officials urged the Supreme Court to deny emergency petitions seeking to halt enforcement of a state law that requires app stores to verify users' ages and obtain parental consent for minors downloading applications. The law, Senate Bill 2420, applies to all software applications with narrow exceptions and does not differentiate based on app content.
Officials stated the measure is comparable to existing state restrictions on products such as alcohol and cigarettes.
A federal district court blocked the law in December 2025 shortly before its scheduled effective date. A panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit later lifted the injunction, determining the state was likely to succeed in defending the measure.
The Supreme Court has not announced a timeline for a decision on the emergency petitions but is expected to rule in the coming weeks. The response from Texas officials noted that the law requires disclosures to parents and places decisions about minors' app access with parents rather than app stores.
