• by Wendy Davis , 11 hours ago

Texas is urging a federal appellate court to allow enforcement of a 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.

In papers filed Friday with the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals, state Attorney General Ken Paxton argues that Texas App Store Accountability Act (SB 2420) represents a valid regulation of "commercial" transactions between minors and app stores.

"When minors download apps they are accepting terms of service, including agreements about how their data is used," Paxton argues. "The child may even be agreeing to have the information in their phone monetized by the tech companies or used to track location."

"Minors entering contracts with app stores and developers without parental consent was the primary concern to SB2420’s sponsors," he adds.

The law -- passed last year and originally slated to take effect in January -- also 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. 

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.

U.S. District Court Judge Robert Pitman in Austin sided with the challengers and blocked the law late last year, ruling that it is likely unconstitutional.

"The Act is akin to a law that would require every bookstore to verify the age of every customer at the door and, for minors, require parental consent before the child or teen could enter and again when they try to purchase a book," Pitman wrote.

He added that the law may have "some compelling applications," but is too broad to be constitutional.

"It is far from clear that Texas has a compelling interest in preventing minors’ access to every single category of speech restricted by SB 2420," he wrote.

For instance, Pitman wrote, "nothing suggests Texas’s interest in preventing minors from accessing a wide variety of apps that foster protected speech (such as the Associated Press, the Wall Street Journal, Substack, or Sports Illustrated) is compelling."

Paxton counters in his new papers that the law advances the state's interest "in allowing parents the opportunity to consent to their minor children accepting terms of service and data collection agreements."

He adds that the mandate to assign age ratings "allows parents to make an informed choice when deciding whether to consent for their minor child to enter into such a transaction."

Other states including Utah and Louisiana have also passed laws requiring app distributors to verify users' ages and block minors from downloading apps without parental permission.

The Computer & Communications Industry Association sued over Utah's law, but withdrew the case last month after officials said in court papers that the state attorney general lacks authority to enforce the law.