Apple must continue to carry out age verification of iPhone users in Texas after the Supreme Court denied a request to pause enforcement of the law.
The iPhone maker strongly opposed the law, with Tim Cook going as far as to personally lobby state Governor Greg Abbott …
The story so far
Texas requires app stores to ensure age verification of all users, and obtain parental consent for minors before they can download, purchase, or even continue using existing apps. The law came into effect at the start of this year, and imposed requirements on both app store owners like Apple and Google, and developers.
Any user in Texas who creates a new Apple account will need to confirm whether they are 18 years old or older. In some cases, Apple will be able to carry out this verification automatically.
Additionally, developers will need to determine the age range of app users in order to ensure compliance. Apple provides tools to help them do so.
Supreme Court rejects a pause in enforcement
A trade body whose members include both Apple and Google had applied to the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals for enforcement of the law to be suspended while it attempted to have the law declared unconstitutional.
That was rejected, with the Consumer and Communications Industry Association then taking the matter to the US Supreme Court. CNET reports that the court has denied the request in a one-sentence ruling.
The Supreme Court on Monday ruled that Texas can, for now, continue enforcing its age verification law, which mandates app stores to verify minors’ ages and secure parental consent before downloading apps or making in-app purchases.
The ruling reads, in its entirety:
The application to vacate stay presented to Justice Alito and by him referred to the Court is denied.
9to5Mac’s Take
The battle is unlikely to end here, with Apple and others still seeking to have the law reversed. However, it’s clear which way the wind is blowing on this one in jurisdictions around the world, and we’ve argued before that Apple would be better advised to accept the inevitable now and turn it into a PR win rather than a legal defeat later.
9to5Mac readers overwhelmingly agreed that they would trust Apple to carry out age and identity verification over individual app developers and websites doing so. While there will inevitably be comments that “neither” is the preferred choice, it’s very clear that this is not going to be an option.
Photo by Hessam Nabavi on Unsplash
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