At the eleventh hour, a federal district court judge in Texas issued a preliminary injunction enjoining the Texas App Store Accountability Act that was set to take effect on January 1, 2026. The Obama-appointed judge found an obscure reason to interpret the bill as a “content-based restriction,” which requires the court to apply a “strict scrutiny” legal test, allowing the judge to find the law lacking.
Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton has appealed the injunction, and we fully expect that a less biased court will allow Texas to move forward with implementation. It’s possible this case – or a similar one – will make its way to the US Supreme Court in the coming year.
Texas was the second state, after Utah, to pass a version of the App Store Accountability Act (ASAA). The laws focus on several key provisions, described by the Digital Childhood Alliance:
- Parental Approval for App Downloads and Purchases: App stores are required to obtain verifiable parental consent before minors can download apps or make in-app purchases, protecting children from privacy risks, financial harm, and unenforceable contracts.
- Accurate and Transparent Age Ratings: App age ratings must reflect actual content and in-app experiences. Parents and state Attorneys General are empowered to take legal action against misrepresented app safety disclosures.
- Secure Age Verification: App stores must securely share verified age categories with apps, enabling developers to comply with laws like COPPA (Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act) and provide in-app experiences consistent with their stated age ratings, enhancing safety and simplifying compliance.
The ASAA is not about policing what minors are allowed to download on their phones – it’s about ensuring that minor children aren’t signing contracts with multi-million-dollar companies.
Every app on Google Play or the App Store comes with its own “terms of service” agreement, which is essentially a legal contract.
Here’s the problem: Kids can’t sign contracts.
Minors have no authority to sign legal agreements without parental consent in any other setting – why are app stores the exception to the rule? The answer: lack of enforcement.
By enforcing a basic aspect of contract law (being a legal adult), the ASAA empowers parents to be more involved in their child’s digital activities.
A recent revelation illustrates why efforts like this are so necessary in the digital age.
Melissa McKay, president of the Digital Childhood Institute, sounded the alarm this month that
Google has been emailing children before their 13th birthday with instructions on how to disable parental controls on their account so they can “get more access to Google apps and services.”
“A trillion-dollar corporation is directly contacting every child to tell them they are old enough to ‘graduate’ from parental supervision. The email explains how a child can remove those controls themselves, without parental consent,” McKay wrote on social media after her 12-year-old son received such an email.
“Google is asserting authority over a boundary that does not belong to them,” McKay continued. “It reframes parents as a temporary inconvenience to be outgrown and positions corporate platforms as the default replacement. Call it what it is. Grooming for engagement. Grooming for data. Grooming minors for profit.”
Laws like the ASAA might not be so necessary if Big Tech companies prioritized parental rights and child safety – but they don’t. That’s why the ASAA, among other efforts, is absolutely crucial.
It’s hard to believe this is up for debate. State governments should be legally allowed to give parents the tools they need to protect their children online. Whether or not they take advantage of those tools is up to them.
ASAA detractors argue that the bill unlawfully “burdens” adult free speech. Fortunately, court precedent is on our side. The US Supreme Court’s landmark decision in Free Speech Coalition v. Paxton was a huge step forward for the age-verification effort. Justice Clarence Thomas rightfully noted in the majority opinion that “adults have no First Amendment right to avoid age verification.”
It’s clear the ruling in Texas was politically motivated, and we know the law itself can withstand rigorous legal scrutiny. We urge states, including South Dakota, to move forward with App Store Accountability legislation so parents can be equipped to protect their children from online dangers.
Learn more here.
