SCOTUS allows Texas to restrict minors' access to app stores

What This is

• The Supreme Court declined to pause Texas’s App Store Accountability Act, so the state can enforce it while the lawsuits continue.
• The law requires app stores to verify a user’s age and get parental consent before most people under 18 can download apps or make in-app purchases.
• Justice Samuel Alito issued one-sentence orders denying the emergency requests to block the law, and the court did not explain its reasoning.
• A tech-industry trade group whose members include Apple and Google is challenging the law, along with student advocates and some minors in the case.

Why This Matters

• It tests how far states can go in making platforms check age without running into free-speech limits.
• It could normalize age checks for everyday app use, changing how much personal data people must share to get digital services.
• It shifts more responsibility onto app-store companies to police access, with compliance costs that could reshape app distribution practices.
• The outcome could influence similar bills in other states and set the direction for courts reviewing child-safety rules online.