Overview
- The Supreme Court on Monday, July 6 declined emergency pleas to pause Texas’s App Store Accountability Act, leaving a Fifth Circuit stay in place so the law can be enforced while lower courts decide the case.
- SB 2420 requires app stores to verify users’ ages with a “commercially reasonable” method and to link accounts for anyone under 18 to a parent or guardian who must be notified of age ratings and give consent before downloads or in‑app purchases.
- A federal judge in Austin blocked the law in December 2025 as likely violating the First Amendment, but a three‑judge panel of the Fifth Circuit put that injunction on hold in June and the Supreme Court’s short order left the appeals court’s decision intact.
- Plaintiffs including the Computer & Communications Industry Association and a student group say the law will bar minors from accessing protected news and educational apps and impose heavy privacy and compliance costs, while Texas and supporters say it protects children’s safety, data and parental authority.
- Legal work will continue with an expedited Fifth Circuit schedule and further district‑court proceedings, and the practical effects include new age‑verification systems, account‑linking requirements and potential data‑collection tradeoffs that could reshape how app stores and families in Texas interact.