Supreme Court lets Texas restrict minors' access to app stores for the time being

Law Supreme Court lets Texas restrict minors' access to app stores for the time being July 6, 20264:15 PM ET By  Nina Totenberg ,  Grady Martin Spectators take photos with their smartphones during a World Cup match at the Houston Stadium in Houston on June 23. The Supreme Court is allowing Texas to enforce a law that limits minors' access to app stores on mobile devices while lawsuits continue in the lower courts. Paul Ellis/AFP via Getty Images hide caption toggle caption Paul Ellis/AFP via Getty Images The Supreme Court on Monday allowed a Texas law prohibiting minors from downloading apps without their parent's consent to go into effect. Multiple organizations had sued the state, arguing that the law violates children's freedom of speech. But in an unsigned, unexplained order, the high court allowed Texas to enforce the law as lawsuits continue in lower courts. Texas enacted its App Store Accountability Act in 2025. The law requires app stores to verify all users' ages, and it prevents children under age 18 from downloading most apps without parental consent. Texas told a lower court that legislators enacted the law in order to keep minors from seeing "harmful" material. Sponsor Message Law What the Supreme Court did on the final day of its term Challengers argued that such a broad law is plainly unconstitutional under a variety of Supreme Court precedents, holding that children do have substantial free speech rights. Texas responded in its filings that the law regulates only "commercial speech" and so is less constitutionally protected. Nonetheless, the law has only a few exceptions for apps made by emergency services and the companies that oversee college entrance exams. Children must get parental approval before downloading all other apps, such as Instagram, library apps, and the apps of news organizations. A lower court initially blocked the law from going into effect, writing that the law "prohibits minors from participating in the democratic excha...