Students and Big Tech are taking on Texas app store age verification law

What do Apple, Google, Meta and Amazon have in common with an advocacy group called Students Engaged in Advancing Texas (SEAT) that represents students? They all take aim at the Texas App Store Accountability Act, a law that requires age verification for users in the state of Texas in order to download apps from app stores.

As Engadget reportsSEAT and the Computer & 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 counts several major technology companies among its members, including Apple, Google, Meta, Intel, Shopify, Amazon and Uber.

The Texas App Store Liability Law was signed into law by Texas Governor Greg Abbott in May. Tim Cook, Apple CEO would have contacted 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, like Apple and Google, to verify users’ ages before downloading apps or making in-app purchases. If a user is a minor, parental permission is required before any download or purchase.

App stores like the Apple App Store already offer users parental controls that require children to get approval before downloading apps or making purchases. However, these parental controls are optional and parents must set them up themselves.

The law would not make these parental controls optional in Texas. In fact, it goes even further and requires companies like Apple and Google to verify the age of each user before they can download or purchase anything from the App Store.

Online age verification processes require users to provide some form of government ID to a platform in order to use the service. As with all online age verification processes, there are concerns about user data privacy and systems confusing legal adults with underage users.

“The First Amendment does not allow the government to require adolescents to obtain parental permission before accessing information, except in separate categories such as obscenity.” said Ambika Kumar, lawyer for the student organization SEAT. “The Constitution also prohibits restricting adults’ access to speech in the name of protecting children. This law imposes a system of prior restriction on protected expression that is presumed to be unconstitutional.”

The CCIA also issued a press release regarding its own lawsuit against the state over the law.

“We support online protections for young internet users, and these protections should not come at the expense of free speech and privacy,” Stephanie Joyce, CCIA senior vice president and chief of staff, said in a press release issued by the group.

“This Texas law violates the First Amendment by prohibiting app stores from offering lawful content, preventing users from seeing that content, and requiring app developers to talk about their offerings in a way that pleases the state,” she continued. “That’s why we’re asking the court to strike down this law and prevent its enforcement while we demonstrate how it seriously violates the U.S. Constitution.”