What do Apple, Google, Meta, and Amazon have in common with an advocacy group called Students Engaged to Advance Texas (SEAT), which represents students? They all deal with the Texas App Store Accountability Act, a law that requires age verification for users in Texas in order to download apps in app stores.
As Engadget ReportsSEAT and the Computer and Communications Industry Association (CCIA) filed two separate lawsuits against the state to block the law from taking effect in Texas on January 1, 2026.
The CCIA has several major technology companies as members, including Apple, Google, Meta, Intel, Shopify, Amazon, and Uber.
It was the Texas App Store Accountability Act I fell into law By Texas Governor Greg Abbott in May. Apple CEO Tim Cook It is said Contact Governor Abbott directly to try to convince him to veto the bill or change parts of it. The law requires companies that operate app stores, such as Apple and Google, to verify users’ age before downloading apps or making in-app purchases. If the user is a minor, parental consent will be required before any download or purchase can be made.
App stores like the Apple App Store provide users with parental controls that require children to obtain consent before downloading apps or making purchases. However, these parental controls are optional, and parents must set them up themselves.
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The law will not make these parental controls optional in Texas. In fact, it goes further and requires companies like Apple and Google to verify each user’s age before allowing them to download or purchase anything from the App Store.
Online age verifications require users to submit a form of government ID to the platform in order to use the service. As with all online age verification processes, there are concerns about user data privacy and systems mistaking legal adults for underage users.
“The First Amendment does not allow the government to require teens to obtain their parents’ permission before accessing information, except in discrete categories such as obscenity.” He said Ambika Kumar, a lawyer for the student organization SEAT. “The Constitution also prohibits restricting adults’ access to freedom of expression in the name of protecting children. This law imposes a system of prior restrictions on protected expression that is presumptively unconstitutional.”
The CCIA also issued a press release regarding its lawsuit against the state over the law.
“We support online protection for young Internet users, and that protection should not come at the expense of freedom of expression and personal privacy,” Stephanie Joyce, senior vice president and chief of staff at CCIA, said in a press release issued by the group.
“Texas law violates the First Amendment by preventing app stores from offering legal content, preventing users from seeing that content, and forcing app developers to talk about their offerings in a way that satisfies the state,” she continued. “That’s why we’re asking the court to strike down this law and block its enforcement while making clear how seriously it violates the U.S. Constitution.”