Overview
- Two federal lawsuits filed on October 17 seek to halt the App Store Accountability Act before its January 1, 2026 start date, naming Attorney General Ken Paxton as a defendant.
- The Computer & Communications Industry Association, whose members include Apple, Google and Amazon, calls the statute a "broad censorship regime" in its filing.
- The law requires every user to verify age before downloading apps or making in‑app purchases, and it compels parental identity verification and consent for each download or purchase by minors.
- Both suits argue the law imposes a content‑based prior restraint and cite Brown v. Entertainment Merchants Association, while warning the rules would reach far beyond social media to education, news, messaging, browsers and content libraries.
- Filings raise privacy and implementation concerns, saying verification could force collection of sensitive IDs and add age‑rating burdens for developers, and a parent plaintiff says the policy would intrude on her child’s privacy.