A new Texas state law set to take effect on Jan. 1 would have required app stores to implement age verification processes. But the law has been put on hold, at least temporarily, by a federal court judge.
As reported by the Texas Tribune, Senate Bill 2420, also known as the Texas App Store Accountability Act, is the subject of a temporary injunction issued by US District Judge Robert Pitman.
Pitman said in his decision that the law as written is broad, vague and "more likely than not unconstitutional." However, he also wrote the court "recognizes the importance of ongoing efforts to better safeguard children when they are on their devices."
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The Texas law, signed into law by Governor Greg Abbott in May, requires app store operators — including Apple, Google, Nintendo, Steam and more — to build age verification processes for the storefronts and to only allow downloads to minors who obtain parental consent. The injunction is a ruling in an October lawsuit filed by the Computer & Communication Industry Association.
CCIA senior vice president Stephanie Joyce said in a statement, "This Order stops the Texas App Store Accountability Act from taking effect in order to preserve the First Amendment rights of app stores, app developers, parents, and younger internet users. It also protects parents' inviolate right to use their own judgment in safeguarding their children online using the myriad tools our members provide."
Other individuals and the advocacy group Students Engaged in Advancing Texas also filed suits over the law, the Texas Tribune reported.
App Store Accountability Act
The bill author, State Senator Angela Paxton, said the bill was meant to give parents "common sense tools to protect their kids and to survive court challenges by those who may have lesser priorities."
The language of Texas Senate Bill 2420 does not only include mobile app stores from Apple or Google, but any "website, software application, or other electronic service that distributes software applications from the owner or developer of a software application to the user of a mobile device."
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