U.S. Supreme Court Lets Texas Enforce App Store Age Verification Law

The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday allowed Texas to enforce the Texas App Store Accountability Act, a law requiring app stores to verify users’ ages and obtain parental consent for minors attempting to download apps or make in-app purchases.

CNN reported the Supreme Court sided with Texas in an emergency appeal without explanation, leaving the Fifth Circuit’s decision in place while litigation continues.

Al Jazeera

NBC 5 Dallas-Fort Worth said the Supreme Court denied emergency applications filed by Students Engaged in Advancing Texas and the Computer & Communications Industry Association, and emphasized the order “is not a ruling on whether the law is constitutional.”

The law had been temporarily blocked by a federal judge in December over First Amendment concerns, before the Fifth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals lifted the injunction earlier this year and allowed enforcement to resume.

Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton argued the law is intended to give parents greater oversight of what their children download and the agreements they enter into online, and NBC 5 Dallas-Fort Worth quoted the state’s filing that “Before allowing minor children to acquire products from app stores and agree to these terms, Texas requires parental consent.”

The Computer & Communications Industry Association, whose members include Apple and Google, told the Supreme Court that the law would effectively bar young people from accessing a wide range of content, “be it a book by Ernest Hemingway or J.K. Rowling, a Taylor Swift album, or a subscription to National Geographic.”

Ars Technica

In a statement carried by The Hill, CCIA president and CEO Matt Schruers said, “People should not have to turn over personal data to access the internet any more than they should show government identification to enter a bookstore,” as challengers argued the measure violates the First Amendment.

NPR described the practical effect as children under age 18 being prevented from downloading most apps without parental consent, while noting the law has only a few exceptions for apps made by emergency services and the companies that oversee college entrance exams.

The Supreme Court’s emergency docket decision does not resolve the underlying constitutional dispute, and CNN said it “doesn’t resolve the case but rather will allow Texas to enforce the law while the litigation continues.”

“The Supreme Court on Monday allowed Texas to enforce a law that requires mobile app stores to verify the age of users and obtain parental consent for minors attempting to install programs on their phones”

CNN

Ars Technica reported that the Fifth Circuit stayed the December injunction on June 4, and said the Supreme Court’s denial of requests left the case moving forward with oral arguments scheduled for August 4.

KXAN Austin said the Texas App Store Accountability Act was signed into law on May 27, 2025, and requires app stores to verify users’ age and obtain parental consent for any apps purchased by minors as legal challenges play out in lower courts.

NPR framed the immediate stakes as the law returning to lower courts for further litigation, while noting that the Supreme Court’s refusal to intervene “does not necessarily mean that the law is constitutional — only that the law can be enforced while lawsuits make their way through the lower courts.”