• by Wendy Davis , Yesterday

The New York Times Company and other news organizations are asking a federal judge to block a new Texas law requiring app stores like Google and Apple to verify users' ages and block minors under 18 from downloading apps or making in-app purchases, without parental consent.

"The Act renders wide swaths of speech at the very heart of the First Amendment’s protection presumptively off limits to minors when accessed through apps -- a critical channel of distribution for news organizations," the Times, AP, Advance Publications, Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press and Student Press Law Center argue in a proposed friend-of-the-court brief filed Wednesday with U.S. District Court Judge Robert Pitman in Austin.

The groups say the "extraordinarily broad" law "goes well-beyond the government’s limited authority to interfere with speech based on concerns about its impact on young people."

The App Store Accountability Act (SB 2420), passed earlier this year, will go into effect January 1 unless blocked in court.

In addition to the parental consent requirement, the Texas law requires developers to say whether their apps are appropriate for children under 13, young teens (ages 13 -15), older teens (ages 16-17) or adults 18 and older. The statute also mandates that app developers say whether particular in-app purchases are appropriate for children, young teens, older teens or adults. 

Utah and Louisiana passed similar statutes this year, and federal lawmakers have introduced a nationwide version of the measure.

In October, the tech group Computer & Communications Industry Association and advocacy organization Students Engaged in Advancing Texas claimed in separate lawsuits that the statute violates the First Amendment.

Those groups sought injunctions blocking enforcement, and the news organizations are backing that request.

"The Act is the functional equivalent of a law requiring all readers to prove they are over 18 or have parental permission before they can even enter a bookstore or newsstand or purchase reading material from such an establishment," the Times and others argue.

"A requirement of that nature would be plainly unconstitutional and an affront to First Amendment values," they add. "The Act is no less unconstitutional by virtue of the fact that it governs digital, rather than physical, access to information and ideas."

News organizations aren't the only ones opposing the law. Last week, the National Retail Federation and Texas Retailers Association argued in a friend-of-the-court brief that the law is so broad that it could hinder companies' ability to sell a variety of goods -- including books, movies and clothing -- through apps.

Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, who is defending the law, argued in papers filed last month that it does not violate the First Amendment.

"Many of Americans’ most important civil rights are restricted to minors," Paxton's office wrote. For instance, the attorney general argued, minors under 18 don't have the right to vote in federal or state elections, and minors in Texas can't purchase guns without parental approval.

The National Center on Sexual Exploitation also supports the law. Among other arguments, that group said in a proposed friend-of-the-court brief that the statute "reinforces longstanding requirements" regarding parental authorization for take-it-or-leave-it contracts with minors.

Pitman is expected to hold a hearing on December 16.