The Supreme Court has allowed Texas to enforce a law that requires mobile app stores to verify the age of users and obtain parental consent for minors attempting to install programs on their phones. This law, enacted last year in response to concerns about the online safety of minors, was opposed by the computer industry and a group of students who argued that it violated the First Amendment.

Background

Other states have considered similar laws amid a push to tighten online regulations for young people. The Supreme Court sided with Texas in the emergency appeal without explanation, with no noted dissents. Texas argued that a minor child who downloads a software application from an app store agrees to contractual terms of service, including whether the child’s location will be tracked, whether the child’s privacy will be protected, and whether information from the child’s phone can be sold by the developer.

The Computer & Communications Industry Association, a trade group whose members include Apple and Google, said the law would effectively bar young people from accessing a wide range of content, including books, music, and subscriptions. The group argued that allowing the law to take effect would have “profound consequences for the protection of digital speech.”

Implications

The Supreme Court’s decision doesn’t resolve the case but rather will allow Texas to enforce the law while the litigation continues to play out. This is not the first time the Supreme Court has weighed in on age verification laws. Last summer, the court allowed Mississippi to enforce a law that required the nation’s largest social media companies to verify the age of their users and obtain parental consent for minors.

Justice Brett Kavanaugh wrote a brief concurrence asserting that the Mississippi law is “likely unconstitutional” but said that the internet companies who sued had not “sufficiently demonstrated” that they would be harmed by a temporary order in favor of the state. Texas’ law is broader, applying to every app available.

Original reporting: El Paso News (HLL/CB) — read the source article.