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

The US Supreme Court declined to block Texas's enforcement of an age verification law for mobile applications, permitting the state to proceed with implementation while constitutional challenges work through lower courts. The App Store Accountability Act, enacted by Governor Greg Abbott in 2025, mandates that app store accounts for users under 18 be connected to a parent or guardian account, with parental notification and approval required before any app download or in-app purchase.

Texas argued that the law addresses a genuine need to protect minors from accessing inappropriate content online without parental awareness. State officials contended that the digital environment differs fundamentally from the physical world and that parents require mechanisms to oversee their children's app usage. The state's legal position emphasized that children can encounter virtually any type of content through mobile applications without parental knowledge.

Opponents of the measure, including Apple, Google, and various advocacy groups, contend that the law violates First Amendment protections by requiring age verification before accessing online content. They drew comparisons to hypothetical scenarios such as requiring age verification to enter bookstores or read newspapers, arguing that no state has previously imposed such broad restrictions on content access. A federal judge initially blocked the law in December, citing these constitutional concerns.

However, a federal appeals court reversed that decision in June, determining that Texas has a substantial interest in protecting children and that parents need information to make informed decisions about their children's digital activities. The Supreme Court's decision on Monday to not intervene left the appeals court's ruling intact, allowing the law to remain in effect during ongoing litigation.

This decision follows the Supreme Court's 2024 ruling upholding a separate Texas law requiring age verification for adult websites, which the court determined did not violate First Amendment rights. The current decision reflects a broader trend across the United States toward expanding parental oversight mechanisms in digital environments.