Texas is set to become the second state to require app stores to verify users’ ages.
Gov. Greg Abbott (R) on Tuesday signed the App Store Accountability Act, delivering a win to social media giants Meta, Snap and X, and to advocacy groups such as the Digital Childhood Alliance.
“This is a landmark moment for child safety in Texas,” said Casey Stefanski, executive director of the Digital Childhood Alliance. “With Governor Abbott’s signature, Texas has become a national leader in holding app stores accountable and putting parents back in control of their children’s digital lives.”
The bill signing, which follows Utah enacting a similar law this year, comes as parents seek more control of their kids’ online experiences and as social media companies try to push age verification responsibility upstream to app stores.
Meta, X and Snap said in a joint statement that they “applaud Texas for taking this important step and urge Congress to follow suit.”
Sen. Angela Paxton (R) authored the bill. Rep. Caroline Fairly (R) carried it in the House.
Apple and Google, which operate the largest app stores, have objected to efforts to take on the onus of managing age verification. Apple CEO Tim Cook personally lobbied Abbott to veto the bill, according to the Wall Street Journal.
In a rare statement, Apple last week formally announced its opposition to the Texas measure. Both chambers passed it with broad, bipartisan support.
“We share the goal of strengthening kids’ online safety but are deeply concerned that [the bill] threatens the privacy of all users,” the company said. “If enacted, app marketplaces will be required to collect and keep sensitive personal identifying information for every Texan who wants to download an app, even if it’s an app that simply provides weather updates or sports scores.
“We believe there are better proposals that help keep kids safe without requiring millions of people to turn over their personal information.”
The App Association, whose sponsors include Apple and Google, said after the bill signing that the law will burden small app developers and “in the end won’t make kids any safer online.”
Both Apple and Google say they already offer tools to give parents more control of their child’s online experiences. Apple also says it will soon allow parents the option to share their child’s age range with app developers. Google has pitched alternative state legislation designed to split responsibilities between app stores and developers.
The new Texas law mandates that app store operators use a “commercially reasonable method” to ascertain the age of account holders. If the user is a minor, they must be categorized based on their age: “child” for those younger than 13, “younger teenager” for those 13 to 16, and “older teenager” for those 17. App developers must be able to access the age category of each minor user for purposes of providing them with an age-appropriate experience.
Minor accounts will be linked to a parent or guardian’s account. The app stores must obtain the adult’s approval before a child or teen downloads or purchases an app or makes an in-app purchase.
There are exceptions for apps that connect users to emergency or crisis services.
To aid in the parent or guardian’s decision, the app store must provide the age rating for the app, details on what led to that rating, and information about what personal data the app will collect and how it will be protected.
If an app’s age-rating or privacy policy changes substantially, that information must be sent to the app store, which in turn must notify the consenting adult so that they can decide whether to continue allowing their child to access the app.
The law, which takes effect in January, also requires app developers to ensure they have the ability to receive information from an app store about a minor’s age range and whether the minor has permission to use their app.
Read more: Utah is first to pass app store age verification law
Utah lawmakers passed the nation’s first app store age verification law in March. Similar bills were introduced in more than a dozen states and Congress this year. Measures in Louisiana and Ohio remain in play. A California bill would require the age-check to happen at the device level.
Multiple states have passed laws requiring parental permission for minors to access social media platforms, but most of those laws have been halted by tech industry lawsuits.