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Senate Bill 2420, set to take effect Jan. 1, would require app stores to verify users\u2019 ages and limit access for those under 18, a mandate that tech groups and students are challenging in federal court.<\/p>\n
Patrick Semansky\/Associated Press file photo<\/p>\n
Two lawsuits are asking a federal judge to block a new Texas law that would require app stores to verify users\u2019 ages and impose restrictions on those under 18.<\/p>\n
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U.S. District Judge Robert Pitman<\/a> heard arguments Tuesday in a pair of lawsuits seeking a temporary injunction against Senate Bill 2420, the App Store Accountability Act, which is set to take effect Jan. 1.\u00a0<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n The lawsuits \u2014 filed in October by the\u00a0Computer & Communications Industry Association<\/a> and Students Engaged in Advancing Texas, along with two Texas teens<\/a> \u2014 hinge on what the plaintiffs describe as the act\u2019s content-based restrictions, which they argue violate free speech rights and pose potential privacy and safety risks.<\/p>\n SB 2420<\/a>, signed into law by Gov. Greg Abbott in May, was hailed as another victory for backers of internet age verification laws. The law’s passage came as the U.S. Supreme Court ruled 6-3 in favor of another Texas law that requires pornography\u00a0websites to verify that users are over the age of 18, either by uploading a government-issued ID or through a third-party age-verification system.\u00a0<\/p>\n RELATED: Pornhub remains blocked in Texas after Supreme Court upholds age-verification law<\/a><\/p>\n Under the act, app stores would be required to ensure users are over 18 or obtain parental consent before allowing them to download or purchase an app. The law, which has exceptions for emergency service and test-prep apps, would also require new users to submit a government-issued ID to verify their ages and secure parental or guardian consent for minors.<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n Both Utah and Louisiana have similar laws set to go into effect next year.<\/p>\n Despite Apple\u2019s and Google\u2019s objections to potential privacy violations, both companies have said they will comply with the law.<\/p>\n “While we share the goal of strengthening kids’ online safety, we are concerned that SB 2420 impacts the privacy of users by requiring the collection of sensitive, personally identifiable information to download any app, even if a user simply wants to check the weather or sports scores,” Apple wrote to app developers earlier this year<\/a>.<\/p>\n Tuesday\u2019s arguments focused on whether the law is content-based and therefore requires strict scrutiny, the highest level of judicial review, to determine whether it violates the First Amendment. If Pitman applies strict scrutiny, SB 2420 would likely not stand.<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n Brian\u00a0Willen, an attorney for the Computer & Communications Industry Association, said the \u201cboa constrictor statute\u201d was unconstitutional because it imposes “wildly overbroad” limits on app stores, which he said function like shopping malls or libraries. He argued that SB 2420, unlike the law aimed at pornography sites, lacks wording that limits its reach to unprotected speech.<\/p>\n Adam Sieff, representing the student plaintiffs, argued that most app stores and phones already have filter options and restrictions built into them that parents can choose to apply or follow for their kids, something attorney Zachary Berg, representing Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton’s office, said “is not working” to resolve mental health concerns for minors.<\/p>\n “Just as the government could not compel a bookstore to screen patrons and stop minors from purchasing any book without parental approval, the state cannot ban minors from downloading digital content through app stores or within apps without parental consent,” the students’ lawsuit reads.<\/p>\n