⚖️ The Texas App Store Injunction

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Federal Court Halts Texas SB 2420

On December 23, 2025, U.S. District Judge Robert Pitman issued a preliminary injunction blocking the Texas App Store Accountability Act (SB 2420) just days before its January 1 effective date. The law would have required app store operators like Apple and Google to verify the age of every user in Texas and mandate explicit parental consent for minors (under 18) to download apps or make in-app purchases. Apple had initially prepared a sweeping compliance plan, including requiring all minors to join "Family Sharing" groups and deploying new Declared Age Range APIs. However, following the ruling, Apple announced it will pause these implementations. The judge's decision cited significant First Amendment concerns, comparing the law to a mandate requiring bookstores to verify every customer's age at the door—a "content-based" restriction that failed the "strict scrutiny" test because it was not the least restrictive way to protect children.

The High Bar for Mandatory Age Gating

The injunction provides a critical insight for the startup community: the courts are currently highly skeptical of "blanket" age-verification regimes that apply to all digital content regardless of risk. Judge Pitman noted that SB 2420 was "unconstitutionally vague" and "overbroad," specifically pointing out that it unfairly targeted app stores while leaving the same content accessible via mobile browsers (like Safari). For founders, this signals that while "Safety Tech" is a growing requirement, state laws that force the collection of sensitive PII (Personally Identifiable Information) for benign activities, like checking the weather or sports scores, are legally vulnerable. Furthermore, the court criticized the law's requirement for developers to report "significant updates" without providing clear standards, which could have led to arbitrary enforcement and "over-censorship" by risk-averse platforms.

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