Texas 'App Store Accountability Act' Faces Federal Court Challenge

Overview of the App Store Accountability Act

On Tuesday morning, U.S. District Court Judge Robert Pitman heard arguments concerning a new law that requires parental consent for children under 18 to use their mobile device's app store. This law, informally referred to as the App Store Accountability Act, is set to take effect on January 1 unless Judge Pitman intervenes. The law mandates that app developers provide age ratings for each app and in-app purchases, with app stores required to display these ratings. Additionally, if there are significant changes to an app's terms of service or privacy policy, developers must notify app stores and adjust the age rating accordingly.

Legal Challenges and Concerns

Stephanie Joyce, the senior vice president and director of litigation at the Center for the Computer and Communications Industry Association (CCIA), argued that this law constitutes a broad ban on accessing the entire internet from a mobile device. The CCIA has filed a lawsuit against the state of Texas under the First Amendment, claiming that the statute completely bans anyone from accessing speech.

The law also includes provisions requiring app developers to give age ratings for each app they develop and for each in-app purchase they offer. App stores must then display those ratings. If an app makes "any significant change to the terms of service or private policy of the software application," the developer must notify the app store and adjust the age rating as necessary.

Defining 'Significant Change'

According to the law, a "significant change" includes:

• Changing the type or category of personal data collected, stored, or shared by the developer;
• Affecting or changing the age rating assigned to the application or the contents that led to the rating;
• Adding new monetization features, including new in-app purchases and new advertisements; or
• Materially changing the functionality of the user experience.

Protecting the Children of Texas

State Sen. Angela Paxton, R-McKinney, authored SB 2420, citing concerns over children’s mental health. The bill's statement of intent highlights growing concerns regarding the rise of social media and its pervasiveness in the lives of children and teens, leaving parents in the position of grasping for the best ways to protect their children. The statement argues that unlike brick-and-mortar stores, which must verify a consumer's age before the purchase of age-restricted products such as alcohol and cigarettes, minors are currently able to navigate through the digital world without such parameters.

The letter of intent also claims that because major app stores already tout age verification, the bill "simply provides additional framework, transparency, and enforcement to protect the children of Texas."

Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton echoed some of these arguments when he filed a motion to dismiss this case in November. He stated that the projected harms caused to plaintiffs by the enactment of S.B. 2420 are vastly overstated, noting that Apple and Google app stores already issue age ratings. The motion also mentioned that app stores verify the ages of their users and provide tools that enable parents to limit what apps children are able to download or make purchases.

Counterarguments from the CCIA

The CCIA argues that the legislature’s arguments over online safety are flawed because they assume that parents already have the right to control their children’s content. Joyce stated that this law applies to the entire app store, not just particular content that the state might find objectionable. It bars access to the New York Times and Sesame Street, as Texas believes it knows better than parents. The CCIA suggests that Texas wants to conscript parents into a censorious regime, making them proxy censors rather than allowing parents to choose what their children see. Rather than trusting parents to use the tools already available to them to protect their children, the law imposes a broader restriction.

Students' Free Speech Rights

Students Engaged for Advancing Texas (SEAT) are also challenging the lawsuit alongside the CCIA. They argue that the law violates the free speech rights of minors by limiting access to the apps where they can promote speech. SEAT Co-Founder Cameron Samuels stated that SB 2420 deprives students of their First Amendment rights on the internet. He emphasized that the internet is their reality and that students have free speech rights too. Samuels added that they deserve access to resources that could save their lives, like the Trevor Project Suicide Prevention lifeline that was blocked in his school district.

Nexstar reached out to the Texas Attorney General’s Office for comment on this story.