The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday declined to block a Texas law that requires app stores to verify users’ ages and obtain parental consent for minors seeking to download apps or make in-app purchases on mobile phones.
Background
Justice Samuel Alito denied petitions by plaintiffs who claim that the Texas App Store Accountability Act violates users’ constitutional rights to free speech. Last month, a three-judge panel from the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that the law can take effect.
The plaintiffs suing to block the law include the Computer & Communications Industry Association and Students Engaged in Advancing Texas. Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton is a defendant in both cases. Plaintiffs’ lawyers argued that the law impermissibly seeks to limit access to content protected by the First Amendment, including news and educational material.
Attorneys from Paxton’s office argued that the law protects children from “dangerous modern products.” A child with access to an app store and a mobile device can potentially download any number of software applications, potentially agreeing to invasions of the child’s privacy and sale of the child’s data and be exposed to any conceivable content without parental consent or even parental knowledge.
Original reporting: KTBS 3 (Shreveport) — read the source article.
