A court is weighing whether Texas can require age checks for app downloads, with the outcome hinging on how app stores are legally defined, according to the Austin American-Statesman.
Arguing before a three-judge panel for the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, Texas Solicitor General William Peterson said app stores like the Apple App Store are akin to shopping malls. He said a federal judge in Austin was wrong to equate it with the constitutionally protected speech of a bookstore when he blocked the state’s App Store Accountability Act from going into effect in January.
The App Store Accountability Act refers to a growing trend of state and federal legislation (like Texas SB2420, Utah SB142, Louisiana HB570, and proposed federal bills) aimed at protecting minors online by requiring app stores and developers to verify user ages, obtain parental consent for minors’ app downloads/purchases, and provide parental controls, effectively holding platforms more responsible for content and data access for children under 18, with significant impacts on tech companies’ data handling and business practices starting in 2026.
Apple is against the App Store Accountability Act because it does not want to be legally responsible for verifying user age, obtaining parental consent, or ensuring that developers follow the rules. The tech giant also doesn’t want to collect the required documentation.
CEO Tim Cook has pushed lawmakers not to require app store platforms to collect data for age verification purposes, instead suggesting that parents should be providing the age of a child when creating a child’s account.
District Judge Robert L. Pitman said last December that the law likely violated the First Amendment by blocking access to apps. However, on Tuesday in New Orleans, Peterson told the judges that the law doesn’t care about content — it’s about regulating contracts between minors and tech giants.
“The district court was wrong to treat this as a content-based law. On the whole this is a content-neutral law … it’s about entering contracts,” Peterson said, asking the court to remand the issue back to Pitman with that guidance.
Utah and Louisiana have passed similar app store age-verification laws, though Louisiana has delayed its law until 2027. Enforcement was also delayed in Utah after a legal challenge similar to the one in Texas, making the state’s fight one of the central tests of broad age-verification laws.
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