Texas becomes second state to enforce age verification on Apple, Google app stores

Texas Governor Greg Abbott on Tuesday signed into law a bill requiring Apple and Alphabet’s Google to verify the age of users of their app stores, putting the second-most-populous state at the center of a debate over whether and how to regulate smartphone use by children and teenagers.The law, effective on Jan.1, requires parental consent to download apps or make in-app purchases for users aged under 18.

Utah was the first state to pass a similar law earlier this year, and lawmakers have also introduced a federal bill.Another Texas bill, passed in the Texas House of Representatives and awaiting a Senate vote, would restrict social media apps to users over 18.Age limits and parental consent for social media apps are one of the few areas of wide US consensus, with a Pew Research poll in 2023 finding that 81% of Americans support requiring parental consent for children to create social media accounts and 71% support age verification before using social media.The effect of social media on children’s mental health has become a growing global concern, with dozens of states suing Meta Platforms and the US Surgeon General issuing an advisory on safeguards for children.Australia last year banned social media for children under 16, with other countries such as Norway also considering new rules.How to implement age restrictions has caused a conflict between Meta, the owner of Instagram and Facebook, and Apple and Google, which own the two dominant US app stores.Meta, along with social media companies Snap and X, applauded the passage of the bill.“Parents want a one-stop shop to verify their child’s age and grant permission for them to download apps in a privacy-preserving way.

The app store is the best place for it, and more than one-third of US states have introduced bills recognizing the central role app stores play,” the companies said.Kathleen Farley, vice president of litigation for the Chamber of Progress, a group backed by Apple and ...