Industry group sues Texas over law requiring ID to download apps
AUSTIN (KXAN) — A trade association filed a lawsuit in federal court Thursday against Texas over a law that would require Texans to prove their age before they can download apps to a smartphone or mobile device.
The law in question is Senate Bill 2420, which passed during the regular session earlier this year. It will go into effect Jan. 1, 2026.
KXAN reached out to the Texas Office of the Attorney General for its response to the lawsuit. We’ll update this story when we receive a response.
What is SB 2420?
SB 2420 mandates that app stores, such as Google Play or Apple’s App Store, must use “a commercially reasonable method to verify” a user’s age. It would also allow software to access age verification documents stored by an app store, provided it deletes them after verifying the user’s age.
Users under 18 will need the consent of a parent or guardian to download or make in-app purchases.
Bill author Sen. Angela Paxton, R-McKinney, authored the bill. In her statement of intent, Paxton specifically referred to social media’s “pervasiveness” in young people’s lives.
“Unlike brick and mortar stores which must verify a consumer’s age before the purchase of age-restricted products such as alcohol and cigarettes, minors are currently able to navigate through the digital world without such parameters,” she wrote in March. “App stores have touted that they already employ age verification, so this simply provides additional framework, transparency, and enforcement to protect the children of Texas.”
Violations of SB 2420 could trigger the OAG to investigate companies for deceptive trade practices. Guardians of minors are also allowed to sue app stores over alleged violations.
CCIA calls law a ‘misguided attempt to protect minors’
The Computer & Communications Industry Association, or CCIA, brought the lawsuit. The 50+ year old trade association said on its website it represents a combined 1.6 million workers in the tech sector.
Its lawsuit calls SB 2420 a “misguided attempt to protect minors.” It also took issue with the law’s “onerous” requirement on developers to set an age-rating for their product.
“Our Constitution forbids this. None of our laws require businesses to “card” people before they can enter bookstores and shopping malls. The First Amendment prohibits such oppressive laws as much in cyberspace as it does in the physical world,” the lawsuit reads
The lawsuit also laid out a hypothetical of the steps required for a 14-year-old to use an app to access books from the Austin Public Library.
“Under SB 2420 … she would first have to establish her own age; then she’d have to tether her
account to a parent’s, who would then need to establish their identity and relationship to the minor and provide consent; finally, she’d have to wait for the parent to provide consent for the app,” the lawsuit reads. Each e-book borrowed on the app would also require a separate approval.
Other apps named in the lawsuit that could be affected include Substack, YouVersion Bible App, InstaRabbi, Spotify and the Texas Longhorns’ app.
The lawsuit argues that strict scrutiny should be applied in the case, which would require Texas to show that the rule was made as narrowly as possible to serve a compelling state interest. It also argued that SB 2420 would also not survive under intermediate scrutiny.
“The verification and consent provisions are far from the least restrictive alternative to achieve the State’s goal, given that app stores already provide tools to allow parents to restrict what their children access on their devices, and many apps already include verification and consent tools tailored to particular services offered through those apps,” it states.
CCIA also noted that a similar Texas law, HB 1181, was upheld by the U.S. Supreme Court. That law only required age verification from users who sought access to adult websites.
