A federal judge on Tuesday blocked Texas from enforcing a new state law that requires companies that run app stores, like Apple and Google, to verify the ages of users — a win for the tech giants and a blow to parents who want more control over the apps their children download.
Judge Robert Pitman of the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Texas issued a preliminary injunction against the law, the App Store Accountability Act, saying it likely violated the First Amendment. Under the law, which was set to take effect in January, app store companies must create means for users younger than 18 to obtain parental consent to download apps or make purchases within apps.
Texas is among the largest of more than 20 states that have considered or passed similar age-verification laws, which supporters have said are a way to protect minors from toxic online content and behavior. In October, California passed an age-verification regulation that Apple and Google supported because it was less onerous than other state laws.
Judge Pitman compared the Texas law to a requirement for bookstores to verify the age of customers at their doors and require parental consent before minors could enter or buy a book.
“It restricts access to a vast universe of speech by requiring Texans to prove their age before downloading a mobile app or accessing paid content within those apps and requires minors to obtain parental consent,” he wrote.
Judge Pitman acted in a lawsuit filed by the Computer & Communications Industry Association, a trade group that counts Google and Apple as members.
The order helps “preserve the First Amendment rights of app stores, app developers, parents and younger internet users,” Stephanie Joyce, a senior vice president at the association, said in a statement.
Apple and Google did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
State age-verification laws have pit tech giants like Apple and Meta against one another over who should be responsible for restricting children’s access to apps. Apple has argued that collecting age information would intrude on users’ privacy and has favored its being done by individual apps.
But social media companies such as Meta and others have pressed for Apple and Google, which manage smartphone operating systems, to become one-stop shops where parents verify their children’s ages and approve downloads.
Ryan Mac covers corporate accountability across the global technology industry.
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