A new Texas law mandates age checks on phones. It may be just the start.

Washington Post

29-05-2025

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A new Texas law mandates age checks on phones. It may be just the start.
Texas passed a law this week forcing Google and Apple to check the ages of mobile app store users and require parents' permission before a teenager or child can download an app or use it to buy something. It became the second and largest state to do so after Utah passed a similar law in March.
Both laws are set to take effect next year, though legal challenges are likely.
In the meantime, Texas lawmakers are eyeing an even more aggressive move that has yet to receive much national attention: a bill that would ban minors from using social media at all.
Texas' age-verification law is a big deal in its own right.
With more than 30 million people, Texas is increasingly wielding a California-like power to help set the national tech policy agenda. This is the latest in a string of consequential internet laws that Republican Gov. Greg Abbott has signed in recent years, including one that restricted social media content moderation and another requiring adult-oriented websites to verify users' ages.
Both have been challenged in cases that reached the U.S. Supreme Court. The restrictions on content moderation are on hold after the high court's majority signaled last year in NetChoice v. Paxton that they may violate the First Amendment and sent the case back to lower courts. A Supreme Court ruling on the age-verification requirements for adult websites is expected in the coming weeks, and it could have implications for the legality of age-verification laws in general, including the one Texas just passed.
The latest law is another win for Meta in its battle with Apple over who should be held responsible for checking users' ages.
The social media giant has pushed for laws that put the onus on the operators of mobile app stores — i.e., Apple and Google — rather than individual apps, such as Facebook, Snapchat and Roblox.
Apple has lobbied heavily on the other side. The Wall Street Journal reported last week that Apple CEO Tim Cook called Abbott personally to ask for changes or a veto. Evidently Abbott was unmoved.
In a statement attributed to an unnamed spokesperson, Apple said it shares the goal of strengthening kids' online safety but is concerned that the Texas law will require the company to collect sensitive personal data on all users. The company argues for what it says is a forthcoming and less invasive approach called 'age assurance,' in which children's ages would be input by parents but then shared only as an inexact 'age range' with app developers, minimizing identifying details such as birthdays.
Heat Initiative, a child advocacy group focused on pressuring Apple to do more to protect kids, sees that as progress but not sufficient.
'Apple had a very hands-off approach to the App Store' for years, Heat Initiative CEO Sarah Gardner said. That allowed developers to publish apps that were rated safe for kids despite providing sexualized content, anonymous chats with adult strangers, and AI 'girlfriend simulators' and appearance-rating tools. Now, Gardner added: 'I think finally we are seeing Apple being dragged into the child safety arena kicking and screaming.'
Google has a foot on both sides of the fence. It runs the Google Play Store app on Android devices but also owns the social platform YouTube. Asked for comment on the Texas law, the company said only that it is 'assessing next steps.'
Texas age checks are just one salvo in a larger battle over teens' access to the internet.
Earlier this month, Apple lent its support to the federal Kids' Online Safety Act, or KOSA, which would hold social media companies rather than app stores responsible for keeping young users safe. That bill, co-sponsored by Sens. Marsha Blackburn (R-Tennessee) and Richard Blumenthal (D-Connecticut), passed the Senate by a vote of 91-3 last year but stalled in the House. Its backers hope Apple's endorsement, along with those of Microsoft, Snap and X, can help it overcome opposition by Meta and the internet trade group NetChoice.
Meanwhile, numerous other states are considering age-verification bills similar to those in Utah and Texas, along with an array of other online safety legislation. It's the rare cause that enjoys bipartisan support these days in statehouses and Congress alike, with Republican and Democratic lawmakers differing mostly on the details.
The biggest obstacle so far has proved to be the First Amendment, which sets a high bar for the government to justify laws that curtail otherwise legal expression, though there are exceptions for obscenity and speech that's deemed harmful to children. Free-speech advocates warn that overly restrictive or ill-crafted online safety laws could lead down a slippery slope to censorship and repression of marginalized groups and unpopular ideas.
Texas's next big move could be a law to keep teens off social media altogether.
The Texas House of Representatives earlier this month passed House Bill 186, which would require social media platforms to check users' ages and prevent anyone under 18 from creating an account. The next step is the state Senate, where it also enjoys bipartisan support, according to the Texas Tribune.
The bill has critics on both left and right who say it's invasive, draconian and poorly written. If passed, it could face an uphill battle in the courts; a judge has already blocked a similar law in Utah.
Regardless, the wave of state-level kids' online safety bills appears unlikely to crest anytime soon, adding to the pressure on Congress to tackle the issue.
Trump's meme coin dinner draws Democrats' scrutiny
A top House Democrat opened a probe into President Trump's meme coin dinner, our colleague Cat Zakrzewski reports for the Tech Brief.
Rep. Jamie Raskin, the ranking opposition member of the House Judiciary Committee, pressed Trump to turn over the names of the guests who attended last week's gala, having secured their invitations by pouring millions of dollars into the president's crypto venture.
Democrats are increasingly criticizing Trump for profiting from his office, focusing on the ways his sons are expanding his real estate and crypto businesses.
'Profiting off the memecoin is just the latest in a bewildering gamut of schemes in which you and your family have profited after your return to office,' Raskin wrote in a letter to the White House, also citing the Trump family's business deals in the Middle East.
Raskin demanded that the Trump administration share details about the source of the funds used to buy the coins, citing concerns that the president may have violated the emoluments clause of the Constitution. The clause prohibits federal officials from accepting gifts from foreign governments without the consent of Congress.
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