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Texas App Store Age Verification Law Can Take Effect, Appeals Court Rules
The panel issued only an administrative stay, leaving the law in place while it reviews claims that it restricts online speech.
- On Thursday, the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals allowed Texas to immediately enforce the App Store Accountability Act, or SB2420, lifting a lower court's injunction that halted the law on First Amendment grounds.
- District Judge Robert Pitman issued an injunction last December, ruling the law likely violated the First Amendment and comparing it to requiring age verification at every bookstore door.
- Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton argued the law regulates "commercial" transactions between minors and app stores, while the Computer & Communications Industry Association claimed it "restricts an enormous amount of online speech."
- The 5th Circuit's administrative stay is temporary, allowing the law to take effect while the appeals court continues reviewing the case, according to court records.
- Similar statutes in Utah and Louisiana have not yet gone into effect, and challengers could seek an immediate review of Thursday's decision from the entire 5th Circuit or the Supreme Court.
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11 Articles
Denton Record-Chronicle+3 Reposted by 3 other sources
Texas’ app age verification law allowed to go into effect for now
Texas’ law requiring app marketplace operators like Google and Apple to verify all users’ ages and seek parental permission before minors can download apps or make in-app purchases can go into effect for now, a federal appeals court ruled Thursday.
·Denton, United States
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Appeals Court Pauses Injunction on Texas’ App Store Law that Likely Violates First Amendment
Washington – A federal court agreed with the Texas Attorney General’s request to temporarily lift a block of the state’s controversial App Store Accountability Act today, a decision that allows the law to take effect. The law had been on hold until the Computer & Communications Industry Association’s constitutional challenge was fully resolved. Previously, Judge Pitman, who blocked the law on December 23, 2025, agreed with CCIA that the injunc…
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Total News Sources11
Leaning Left3Leaning Right0Center7Last UpdatedBias Distribution70% Center
Bias Distribution
- 70% of the sources are Center
70% Center
L 30%
C 70%
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