Texas has codified a new law that requires the Apple and Google app stores to verify users’ ages for downloads, providing parents and guardians more control over children’s downloads. California and Illinois are considering similar measures, but so far Texas is the largest among 20 states that have evaluated similar smartphone laws aimed at child safety. In March, Utah became the first state to establish such regulation. As part of a broader national push Congress this month reintroduced the bipartisan Kids Online Safety Act (KOSA) requiring social media platforms to police harmful content.

That bill has been kicking around Capitol Hill since 2022, and The New York Times indicates it is “an issue that has struggled to get traction in Washington.”

Meanwhile, states are pushing ahead. Bloomberg reports the Texas measure “was patterned off Utah’s App Store Accountability Act, which took effect earlier this year and placed similar requirements on software markets.”

The regulations see tech sectors battling over who should be responsible for age verification, app store owners or social media companies.

“Apple has argued that collecting age information would intrude on users’ privacy and has favored its being done by individual apps, but social media companies such as Meta, Snap and X have pressed for Apple and Google, which manage smartphone operating systems, to become one-stop shops where parents verify their children’s age and approve downloads,” NYT explains.

Bloomberg notes the issue has become such a flash point that Apple CEO Tim Cook personally called Texas Governor Greg Abbott before it was signed on Tuesday “to emphasize the company’s opposition.”

“The social media companies Meta, X and Snap applauded the bill, calling it an ‘important step’ and urging Congress to pass similar legislation,” NYT writes.

The Texas law goes into effect at the start of 2026, “giving app stores several months to determine how they will collect this information,” notes CNN, pointing out that “the bill was passed with super-majority approval by the Texas House and Senate.”

While still a bill, a Google spokeswoman called it “one of the most extreme age verification regimes that we’ve seen,” according to NYT, and quotes an Apple spokesman saying, “it requires app marketplaces to collect and keep sensitive personal identifying information for every Texan who wants to download an app, even if it’s an app that simply provides weather updates or sports scores.”

Related:
Apple Hits Back At Texas Online Safety Law: ‘Better Proposals’, Newsweek, 5/28/25